Our Secret
by X-Storm
Summary: Jean has horrible secrets about her ex. He hurts her very badly. Can she cope with the pain or will it destroy her? Mainly JeanScott. --I added a note at the very end--
1. The Secret

Diclaimer: I don't own X-Men Evolution, unfortunately, cause if I did it would still be on TV. Anyway, it belongs to Marvel and WB.  
  
It's been a few months since Jean and Duncun broke up. She was very glad she told him it was over. And the good thing is that she was planning on doing so for so long. On her first day back to school, after all the chaos of the mansion being destroyed and then being reconstructed, she figured it would be a great time to break the news. Of course his stupid comment on her powers pushed her to tell him much sooner. She would have waited until lunch otherwise.  
  
Now she's very happy to be free of him and the control he had over her. She never told anyone how he treated her. She was scared to death to say a word. Even now that she's away from him she is still shook up from his abuse. Her and Scott had just began to date and she knows she should share the bad news with him but she just can't. She also knows that he has an idea that her ex wasn't too good to her. But he doesn't know the half of it.  
  
Jean was now in her room waiting for Scott to come in. They had to do a project for their senior year. Even though it was different they figured they'd work on them together incase one or the other needed some help. They were pretty much the same with all their assignments.  
  
She heard someone coming down the hall. Finally, she thought. It was indeed Scott. He walked in her room and went over to her bed then sat beside her.  
  
"So what's up?" he asked.  
  
"Nothing, just sitting here. I'm glad you finally showed up Scott because there is something we must talk about. I don't know how to tell you though." she explained.  
  
"You know you can tell me anything hon." he assured her.  
  
"Yeah, you're right. What am I afraid of. I mean, you and I are together now and I really shouldn't be keeping this from you." she said not even looking at him.  
  
"What is it? Is it something to do with Duncun? He isn't bothering you, is he?" he asked as he stood up.  
  
"Well he hasn't been bothering me a lot. Sometimes he'll call me names in school but I've gotten use to that. So he isn't bothering me." she said looking at Scott.  
  
"Why does he have to be such an asshole? I never liked that creep. Did he ever hurt you Jean?" he said getting a bit angry.  
  
"Well...um...sort of..." she stammered.  
  
"What he hell did he do to you?!" he yelled.  
  
"Calm down. It's over and done with. Let's work on our projects and we'll talk afterwards. You need some time to calm yourself." she said grabbing his hand with one hand and patting the bed beside her with the other.  
  
"Okay, I guess. But you better tell me everything after this because I know something is up. And I won't be completely happy until I find out what." he said sitting back down beside her.  
  
Then Scott gave Jean a small peck on the lips and they began working on their assignments.  
  
A few minutes later the phone rang. Kitty walked part way up the steps and yelled for Jean to pick up her bedroom phone. Jean got the phone and told Kitty through the receiver that she had it. Kitty hung up downstairs.  
  
"Hello." Jean said.  
  
"Hey there whore. You better not say a word to anyone about what I did to you. If you do...I'll make sure you pay greatly." it was Duncun.  
  
"Go to hell!!!" she screamed and hung up the phone.  
  
"Who was that?" Scott said confused.  
  
"It was my ex. He's threatening me again." Jean said looking quite scared and as if she were about to cry.  
  
"Damn him. Why can't he leave you alone? Wait...he's threatening you...again? He's threatened you? About what? Please tell me." Scott said still looking puzzled.  
  
"I really want to tell you. I'm just scared. He'll hurt me." she said starting to cry.  
  
Scott pulled her into his arms and rocked her. He kissed her on the top of her head and stroked her hair.  
  
"I will never let him lay one finger on you. Just tell me. You may feel a little better." he said still comforting her.  
  
"Okay. He use to hit me and he forced me to do it to him...a lot." she said softly through tears.  
  
"That bastard! He will pay for hurting you. One of these days. No wonder you were afraid of me touching you. Oh Jean, I am so sorry. I wish I could change the past and heal your pain." he said holding her tighter.  
  
"I love you." she said.  
  
"I know, I love you, too. And I will never stop. I will never hurt you...ever. We will work this out together. I promise. And I'll try not to let him know you told me because I don't wanna cause you anymore pain. Plus if he hurts you again he may never do anything again." he said as a tear streamed down his right cheek.  
  
She felt it on her forehead and she looked up at him. She pressed her lips to his and they kissed for a few minutes. They never let go of each other. And even when their kiss ended they stayed in each other's arms for hours until they evenually fell asleep. 


	2. Building Up Chaos

Jean awoke to the sound of her alarm. Scott moved some but didn't wake up. Jean shut off the alarm. She just watched Scott as he slept for a few minutes. Then she figured that she should wake him. 

She leaned over closer towards his face and slowly moved down until her lips touched his. She then moved back. His faced twitched a bit but he didn't awake. So she kissed him again this time she straddled over him. Finally he awoke.

"Good morning Scott." Jean said smiling down at him.

"Good morning. Did the alarm go off?" asked Scott still drowsy.

"Yes, but I guess you didn't hear it so I left you sleep a little more." she said.

"Oh, how sweet." he said then he pulled her down completely over him for a tight hug.

They embrassed for a bit and then figured they better go and start to get ready for school. After all they did have a test today. Good thing they were in the same class...math...3rd period.

Scott kissed Jean and headed out of her room. Jean remained in her room and got out clean clothes and other things for her shower. Although they kind of poked around for about 20 minutes there was still plenty of time to get ready. Most of the morning rush in the halls was slowed down.

While Scott was heading to his room he ran right into Rogue, who was walking back to her and Kitty's room. She wasn't paying any attention to what she was doing. She was her usual moppy self, well I wouldn't blame her, it would suck not to be able to touch.

"Sorry." Scott said.

"Yeah, sorry yourself." Rogue mumbled sarcastically.

"Well you're the one who wasn't looking where you were going." he said somewhat irritated at her attitude. "Lighten up some."

"Whatever." she said walking away. She still had a thing for him but knew she had no chance. She hated the fact that he was in love with Jean and that the two were together. But surely she'd eventually get over it.

Scott walked towards his room mumbling about rude people and etc.

Later at 7:00am everyone was downstairs for breakfast, as usual. Everybody was seated except for Kurt and Kitty. She was at the counter and started to head towards her seat when he popped right in front of her.

"Like, I told you not to just pop up!" she said loudly.

"Sorry Kitty. I couldn't resist." he said smiling.

She walked around him and sat down. Then he went to his seat as well.

It wasn't too long until everyone was finished and ready to head off to school. Jean went with Scott, along with Kurt, Rogue and Kitty. The others who went to Bayville High walked. The ones who were taught at the institute went to their places.

Scott and his little group were all in his car and he was driving to school. As soon as they got there Kurt, Rogue and Kitty got out and went towards the building. Jean and Scott remained in his car and talked a bit. Then she noticed Duncun staring over at her and Scott, mainly staring at her. She glared back and then turned back to face Scott. They kissed and got out of the car.

Jean and Scott walked towards the school and past Duncun hand in hand. Jean rested her head on Scott's right shoulder as they walked.

"Hey bitch." Duncun said as they passed.

She ignored him but Scott moved his hand away from Jean's and placed his arm around her waist pulling her closer to his side.

"Didn't you hear me you slut?!" Duncun yelled.

Scott was getting furious. He let go of Jean and turned around to face Duncun who was a good few feet away.

"Leave her alone. She wants nothing more to do with you. If you ever touch her I will make sure you pay." he yelled angerly.

"Ooh, I'm so scared you freak!" Duncun yelled back.

"Fuck you! You're not worth it." Scott said. He placed his arm around Jean and she did the same and the two went into the school.


	3. Pain, Tears and Payback

Warning:  This chapter deals with physical abuse from being beat to rape.  Just a warning before you read on.

The school day went quite fast. There was only 10 minutes left to the last period. Jean was staying after school to help out her teacher. One of the few people who didn't care that mutants existed. Her teacher cared about people in gereral, not what they were. And mutants are people who are just amazingly gifted. Jean only wished everyone fetl that way. Anyway she had to tell Scott she was staying so that he wouldn't worry about her.

Scott's class was only two doors down the hall from hers so she asked if she could be excused for a moment. Her teacher said yes because the work was done for that day. So Jean headed down the hall towards Scott's class.

She knocked on the door and saw his teacher come over to open it.

"Sorry to bother you but may I please talk to Scott for a minute. Just one minute." she said looking at the teacher then to Scott.

"I suppose so. Summers, there's someone here to see you. You may talk in the hall for a minute or so." the teacher said appearing somewhat annoyed.

Jean thanked him as Scott got out of his seat to meet with her.

When Scott was with Jean the two went outside of the classroom.

"What is it? Is something wrong?" Scott asked.

"No, nothing's wrong. I just want to tell you that I'll be staying after school for a bit." Jean explained.

"Oh, why.?" he asked in confusion.

"I'm gonna help out my teacher. She's taking down papers and putting up new ones and so forth. I volunteered to lend a hand." she said smiling.

"Okay, teacher's pet." he joked.

"Ha ha Scott." she laughed nudging him on the arm.

"How are you gonna get home? I don't want you to walk alone cause of Duncun. I can't stay and wait. I have to be home right after school to talk to the Professor." Scott said feeling a bit worried.

"I'll be fine. I'll call and let you know when I'm done. I promise honey." Jean said.

"Great. Just call my cell, I'll let it on for you." he said feeling much better.

"Alright. Well I better get back to class. I love you." she said moving closer.

"I love you too sweetheart." he said opening his arms and placing them around her.

Jean put her arms around Scott to return his embrace. They held each other tight for a few seconds or more. Then Scott leaned down and kissed her. After that they parted, he went into his class and she walked back down to hers.

School was now done for that day. While all the other students went to their lockers and exited the builing Jean remained in 7th period. She loved helping people, that's just the kind of person she is.

A whole hour passed by. Jean and her teacher were almost done with the small jobs. In a matter of minutes it was all complete.

"Thank you Jean for helping. You really didn't have to." said her teacher.

"No problem. I enjoyed doing it. Anytime you need anything just let me know." Jean said back.

"Thanks. You're such a kind young lady." her teacher said smiling.

With that they said goodbye. The halls were completely empty since all of the students have went elsewhere. The only people there were a few teachers and maybe some students who either stayed behind like Jean or were serving detention.

So Jean thought she'd be okay to go to her locker and then call Scott to pick her up. After a quick stop at the bathroom she headed towards some double doors, up a stairway and through another set of doors. Then she was walking down the hall to her locker.

When Jean got to her locker she did the usual, she opened it and got the materials she'd need for homework and so on. While standing there she saw that all of the classrooms were completely empty on that floor. She figured she was alone.

Jean continued with her locker and finally had everything she needed. She shut it and moved the combonation some so no one could figure out her number. She turned around and was about to head back towards the second double doors she entered when all of a sudden she felt someone grab her from behind.

She tried to get away. She struggled and almost screamed until a hand covered her mouth tightly. All she could do was let out a muffled moan. The person moved their hand in just enough time to place tape over her mouth. Then the person tied her hands behind her back. She almost stomped on the person's foot but then she felt a sharp, stinging pain on the inner elbow of her right arm. The person had shot her up with some kind of stimulant, just enough to weaken her.

Jean started to feel somewhat weak. But if she were able to turn around she could use her powers and shove her attacker away enough for her to escape and try to find someone. Unfortunately, she couldn't turn around and she began to feel weaker.

The person left her go and she sank to the floor with a moan. The person stepped in front of her and looked wickedly down upon her. She glanced up and her eyes widened with complete terror. It was nonetheless...Duncun!

Jean wasn't too surprised. She knew how twisted his mind was. She tried to push him into the wall behind him but she couldn't build enough strenth to focus on her powers. Damn, she thought.

"What are you gonna do now bitch? There's nobody here to stop me. I've been secretly following you around all day. When I saw that you had stayed after school I decided I'd just hang around as well. I knew what room you were in and I quickly checked the auditorium. No one was in sight. There was no trace of anyone, even behind stage in the storage room. So here I am Jean and you are coming with me." Duncun said wickedly and then he grabbed her by the hair and yanked her to her feet.

Duncun dragged her by her arm through the doors, down the steps, through another set of doors and he paused to make sure there was no one there. The coast was clear so he took her to the storage room behind the stage and locked the door behind him. He knew he'd have time to do his evil with her. It was only 10 minutes after 4:00pm. It would only take a few minutes, give or take.

Meanwhile, back at the institute Scott was getting worried and very impatient. He and Xavier had just finished their discussion. Scott couldn't sit still. He reached in his pocket and pulled out his cell phone to make sure it was on. It was and it was working.

"Why hasn't she called? It's been well over an hour." Scott said as he stood up.

"Scott, she'll call. If something else came up or something happened she would have called or contacted me telepathically. You know that." the Professor said trying to calm him and make him feel better.

"Yes I know, but what if something is wrong and she can't contact us?" Scott said with a concerned look on his face.

"I'm sure she's fine but you may go to the school and find her. Our talk is done." said Xavier.

"Great! Thanks Professor." Scott said then he turned and darted out of the room.

Xavier sat behind his desk and folded his hands, as usual.

Back at Bayville High, Duncun had already started messing Jean up. He was still hitting her. Now he removed the tape roughly and she cried out because it hurt terribly. Then he untied her hands and straddled over her. He knew she was too weak to do anything to him. She could barely even put up a slight struggle. He back-handed her and bitch-slapped her a few times. Her nose was already bleeding and now her mouth began to bleed. She felt the blood from her nose run down to meet the blood from her mouth. It all came together and made big mess on her face.

"Please stop. Please." Jean pleaded weakly.

"No way bitch." Duncun whispered in her ear.

He then tore off her shirt and undid her bra. With one hand he held both of her hands above her head. He began to kiss her lips roughly. He forced his tongue in her mouth. The only thing she could do now was bite his tongue, so she did. He moaned as he moved back from her face. He tasted his blood.

Jean saw the look in his eyes and thought "That was stupid of me." Now Duncun was extremely angry. He started beating on her more than before. He punched her hard in the stomach causing her to groan in great pain. He planted more punches and slaps to her face. Her left eye began to swell and bruise.

Duncun now ripped off her pants and underwear. He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a condom. Then he pulled his pants down.

Jean started to scream and cry because she knew what was coming next. And she didn't have to read his wicked mind to know.

As Jean feared, Duncun forcefully entered her. She cried and screamed but he wouldn't stop. He kept pounding into her like a mad animal. He held her hands above her head once again so she couldn't try to hit him. Although, she knew not to try anything else, she was already in bad enough shape.

He continued to have his way with her. She kept crying and screaming. He didn't tell her to shut up because he loved to hear her pain. And finally, after what seemed like forever, he slammed into her one last time.

He got up, threw away the condom and pulled his pants up and so on. He just stood there staring at her, all battered. She was naked and a mess. All she could do was bawl.

All of a sudden the door flew off the hinges from a blast of red. It was Scott and he was furious.

"You fuckin' son-of-a-bitch!!! I swear I will kill you or at least put you in the hospital for a long time! I told you to leave her the hell alone! But do you listen?! No, of course not! You're gonna fuckin' pay for this asshole!" Scott yelled in complete anger.

Scott walked quick towards Duncun and grabbed him by his shirt colar. He shoved him against the wall harshly. Jean laid there crying still because of the pain she was in. But some of the tears now were of joy. She was very happy to see Scott. And she knew that after what he's gonna do Duncun will never bother her again.


	4. Payback's A Bitch

"Calm down Summers." Duncun said. 

"I don't think so Mathews. I warned you and you didn't listen. Now you will pay...greatly." Scott said through clenched teeth.

"What are you gonna do? Blast me with your powers?" Duncun stated sarcastically.

"No. I'm gonna have fun showing you what it feels like to have the shit beat out of you. And don't underestimate me. I could care less that you're a big shot football player. I never liked you. You were always so damn full of yourself. I disliked you so badly but now I hate your fuckin' guts for what you had done to Jean when you were together and what you have just done. She isn't yours anymore. She's my girlfriend. Not just a girlfriend though, she's been my best friend for so long and I love her more than anything." Scott went on.

"You just want to fuck her, too." said Duncun bitterly.

"What?! No. I could care less about that. And no I'd never fuck her. Someday when we're both ready we'll make love." said Scott and he turned his head to take a glance at Jean who was staring at the two guys. "But enough of the chit-chat. It's time for you to pay."

Scott left go of Duncun's shirt and landed a punch right to his jaw. Duncun swung at Scott and he dogded. Scott punched Duncun in the stomach causing him to bend over. Then Scott brought his right elbow down violently into Duncun's back. That powerful blow knocked him to the floor wincing in pain.

"How does it feel asshole?! Huh?!" yelled Scott as he felt the rage building up again.

Duncun didn't say a word. He just held his stomach. Scott kicked him in the side and that made him groan. Scott repeated the kick but harder.

"What's the matter, can't you fight back? You're just a pussy. You can beat up girls but when it comes to guys you're truly a wimp." Scott said then he grabbed Duncun by his hair and yanked him up.

Scott shoved him against the wall and started to use his face for a punching bag. Duncun was speechless by the time Scott finished beating him. Scott grabbed him by the colar of his shirt again and threw him across the room where he hit a wall and landed in a thump.

Scott walked over to Jean and threw his arms around her. She quickly and happily returned the embrace. She pulled him as close to her as she could, nearly dragging him down on top of her.

"Oh Scott. It was terrible. I'm so glad you came. Who knows what would of happened. He may have killed me." Jean cried with her face buried into his shoulder.

"Jean, honey, I'm so sorry. It's all my fault." Scott accused himself.

"No. Scott, it's not. How would you know that he was here still? It was an accident waiting to happen." she said as she moved her face from his shoulder to look at him.

"No way was that an accident. That bastard planned to hurt you. But he got what was coming." he told her.

Scott looked over at Duncun who was still on the floor. Then he looked back to Jean and kissed her softly on the lips.

Scott glanced around the room for something to wrap Jean up in. After a few minutes he found a piece of fabric in a box of props. He reached out and grabbed it. Then he wrapped it around Jean and picked her up in his arms. He picked up her backpack. She placed her right arm around his neck and pulled her head towards his neck and rested it there. He kissed the top of her head.

Scott then walked out of the storage room with Jean in his arms. He left Duncun there bleeding. They headed into the halls and then out some doors. And finally they were outside of the school. Luckily no one was hanging around. Scott walked to his car with Jean and placed her in the passenger seat. He went around the car to his side, got in and shut the door.

Scott began to drive. Jean was so releaved to be with him and on her way home. She couldn't wait to be in a nice, hot bath.

Several minutes later, Scott and Jean were at the institute. He got out of the car, shut the door and picked Jean back up. Soon they were at the front door and he opened it. The only people they saw in that area were Logan, Kurt and Rogue.

"Oh my god. What the hell happened to her?" Rogue said with a horrified look on her face.

"Like you care." Scott said, he knew how Rogue felt about Jean.

"Excuse me. But I do care. She looks like shit." Rogue said looking annoyed by Scott's statement.

"Sorry. I'm just really upset. I'll explain it all later. First I want to get her upstairs and make her feel more comfortable." he apologized and stated.

"I guess I forgive ya." she said.

Kurt just looked at Jean in shock. He had a feeling about what happened. Duncun. What a complete jerk. That's no way to treat a girl. he thought.

Logan headed towards Scott looking very furious.

"I wanna know right now what happened to her bub." said Logan.

"But I have to get her fixed up." Scott said.

"Give her to me Scott. I'l take care of her. I promise." Rogue said, barely believing the words coming from her mouth. Although she felt she hated Jean, she knew that deep down she loved her because she was her friend. And she knew Jean would do the same had it been her.

"I don't know." Scott said.

"C'mon. I won't hurt her. She's my friend. I'll take her upstairs and all. Hand her over so ya'll can talk." Rogue insisted.

"Well, okay." Scott said as he have Jean to Rogue. "Got her?" he added.

"Yeah, she's heavier than I thought but I got her. See ya later." Rogue said and she headed towards the steps.

"Okay bub, start explaining." Logan said impatiently.

Scott told him and Kurt everything. Kurt just thought I knew it, that bastard.

Logan, on the other hand, stood up.

"That fuckin' low-life little asshole. Where is he? I'll kill him myself!" Logan raged with his claws protruding on both hands.

"I left him at the storage room. But you can't..." Scott said and got cut off.

"Can't what? He ain't gonna touch Jean or another girl in that way again. I'l make damn sure of it." Logan said angerly.

With that Logan took off through the doors and into the evening dimness.

"Damn it." said Scott getting up to run after him.

Kurt grabbed his arm. "Let him go. You don't want to get in his way now."

"You're right." Scott said.

Kurt and Scott just sat there deep in thoughts of how Logan was going to punish Duncun.


	5. Road to Recovery

A few minutes later Xavier entered the room where Kurt and Scott sat. He thought that Jean would be with Scott but he didn't see her. He knew she was back because he sensed her presence. 

"Where's Jean?" the Professor asked concerned.

"She's upstairs and not in very good condition either. She's been drugged, beat and raped by that asshole of an X-boyfriend." Scott said.

"Why didn't you bring her straight to me so we could take her to the infirmatory? If she's as bad as you say she is she will need to be well examined. I'll contact Jean and Storm, I assume that Jean is conscious." said Professor X.

"Yes she's conscious, but barely. I don't know if her powers are at full strenth now though." explained Scott.

"Alright then, just incase they're not, I'll just contact Storm and have her see Jean. She can bring Jean to the infirmatory." Xavier said.

"Wait. No I want to bring Jean down. I want to be with her." Scott interrupted.

"No problem, go get Jean and I will just have Storm come to the infirmatory. I'd like her help because Jean may feel more comfortable having a female there through her examination." said the Professor.

"Okay, I'll see you soon." Scott said getting up and heading up the stairs quickly.

Xavier contacted Storm telepathically and told her to meet him at the infirmatory.

"Kurt, if anyone asks where I am, unless it's an extreme emergency, tell them that I am busy." said Professor X.

"Okay Professor." Kurt said.

The Professor exited the room and made his way to the infirmatory. Storm was already there waiting when he arrived. Shortly after Scott showed up with Jean in his arms. Xavier was shocked to see her in this condition. Storm gasped.

"Oh my god, who did this to her?" Storm said completely horrified by the sight.

"Duncun, her X-boyfriend and her face isn't the only thing bruised. He..." Scott started but was cut.

"Scott, I can talk. Fortunately. So please can I explain the problem?" Jean said still sounding weak.

"Sure, I guess hon." Scott said.

Scott carried Jean over to the medical bed and laid her down. The Professor and Storm made their way over as quick as possible.

"I think you should be examined before you give us the details." Xavier said looking from Jean to Storm. "Storm is here to help. I figure you'd prefer a female around for this."

"Yes. Thank you." said Jean softly. Then she grabbed her side through the sheet that was wrapped around her.

Professor X signaled Storm to remove the sheet and give Jean a external look. He would be doing the internal examination. Checking for any bleeding within or fractures, etc.

Scott kissed Jean on the forehead and then stepped back to watch. Storm removed the sheet to reveal Jean's bruised body. Storm looked at Jean from head to toe. Jean's face looked a bit better because Rogue and Kitty cleaned it up with a wet, warm wash cloth. But you could see the split in her lip where it bled, her face was bruised and she had a very bad black eye.

"This is terrible." Storm said in disbelief.

Then Xavier moved closer to the bed so he was sitting right across from Jean and they could have better eye contact. Storm slid her hand over Jean's side where she had clutched at just a bit ago. It was really bruised bad. Luckily there didn't appear to be any broken bones but sometimes you can't tell from external examination.

"She appears, from this perspective, to be fairly well, aside from all of the bruises. But I'm not the doctor here." Storm said to the Professor.

"Okay, I suppose we should take her to be X-rayed and thouroughly examined." said the Professor.

Storm followed Xavier. She pushed Jean's bed behind him and Scott walked along the side holding Jean's hand.

"You will be just fine. I know you'll pull through well. You're always so strong." Scott said.

Jean looked at him with a weak smile.

The three went off to further examine Jean.

Back where Kurt was Logan came back through the doors with a satisfied look upon his face. His hands were covered in blood.

"Logan. What exactly did you do to him." Kurt asked knowing it had to have been terrible.

"Well elf, to make it short, that bastard ain't gonna be hurting anyone again." Logan said gruffly.

"Dude, you didn't kill him, did you?!" Kurt said not too shocked if he had.

"Not exactly, that would have been an easy way out for him. He'll still live to deal with what he did. But he won't be the same...ever." Logan explained. "Where's Jean?"

"Ummm. She's being examined. No one can go down to the infirmatory just yet." Kurt said.

"Who says?" said Logan.

"The Professor." said Kurt, he had a feeling Logan didn't care what Xavier said.

"Well I'm sure Chuck ain't gonna mind some extra company. I'm getting cleaned up and then I'm gonna see Jean." Logan said in his usual tone.

Kurt just sighed as Logan headed upstairs. Man, I definately don't want to get on his bad side he thought.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Hey everyone. You'll find out if Jean's okay and there will be a flashback dealing with what Duncun did to her when they were together. Plus more of her and Scott, of course. And you'll find out what Logan did to Duncun. So much more...be patient. It will all come together within the upcoming chapters:)


	6. The Discussion

The next day Logan had got up and did his usual routine of working out. He had to maintain his sculpured body and at the same time stay strong. After he finished he grabbed a chair in the kitchen and sat down to read the newspaper with a cup of coffee, as he usually does. He couldn't believe one of the articles towards the bottom. The title read, High School Student/Football Player Found Severely Injured. It went on in the article that the teenager known as Duncun Mathews was in severe condition and was being contained at the Bayville Hospital. Logan thought, Damn. He read on thinking he'd find his own name or something about him. But there was nothing about him. It said that by the closing of the night before the student was able to speak some and answer questions. Fortunately, he said nothing about Logan. He only stated that he was attacked by an unknown person. And he said he had no remembrance to what the person looked like or anything. 

"Good. I guess my coast is clear." Logan mumbled to himself.

Meanwhile at the infirmatory were Professor X, Scott and , of course, Jean. She was feeling a bit better. She, amazingly, was fairly well. The thourough examination showed no broken bones or fractures. But nonetheless, she had quite a few bruised bones on her ribs. And her body was still very bruised, obviously.

"How are you feeling today Jean?" asked the Professor.

"Okay, I guess. I am very sore all over. As expected. Otherwise, I'm fine. Scott stayed with me all night." Jean answered.

"I'm glad you are feeling somewhat better. Here's some breakfast and tea. It may help you feel even more better." said the Professor as he gave a bed tray to Jean.

"Yes. Thank you Professor." Jean said smiling a weak smile and she raised her bed and slowly took the tray.

"Scott, if you'd like to go get something to eat you may. I'll stay with Jean to make sure everything's okay. I'm sure you're hungry." said Xavier.

"Yeah, I am a little hungry. I haven't eaten since lunch at school yesterday. I was too shook up." Scott answered.

He got up from the chair beside Jean's bed and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Then he left the infirmatory to get some breakfast. He was very tired because he hadn't slept much. He spent most of the night just watching Jean sleep.

So the Professor sat there with Jean. When she finished her breakfast they began to talk.

"Should I report this to the police? I mean they'd probably not even care...to most ordinary people we're only 'monsters'." Jean stated depressingly.

"I truly believe you should talk with the police. Let's say he does this to another girl." said the Professor.

"You're right. I don't want someone else to feel this pain. Especially if it's someone much weaker than me. I can't let that happen." Jean said.

"Don't worry red, it won't." a voice entered the room.

"Logan. Hi. What do you mean?" said Jean.

"Well, I just read in the paper that the hot-shot has been admitted to the hospital in critical condition. Thanks to me." Logan said.

"Huh?" Jean said.

"Logan. You no better. Now the law will be pointed in our direction." said Xavier a bit upset.

"No Chuck. He spoke nothing of me when they questioned him. Besides, screw the law. They wouldn't do anything about what he did to her. They'd probably blame her or make up some lame ass theory." Logan explained.

"Well they may find out eventually what really happened. Yes, the law may do as you said but still it would have been the civil way to take authority." Xavier explained understanding Logan's words.

"Hey, do I have any say here?" Jean asked with a small grin.

"Sure. What you have to say?" Logan answered.

"Well, I do agree that turning him in would've been best. But I also know that I may lose because I'm a mutant. No matter what happened or what will happen, I am reporting my attack. I just hope he doesn't deny it all. And knowing him." Jean said.

"He won't lie. He knows better. I think I knocked some sense into that punk." Logan said.

"Jean, as soon as you're well enough to go through with trials, we'll go forth with this." said the Professor.

"I can't wait that long." Jean said abruptly.

"Be patient, it'll only be a few days. Mr. Mathews will have to have time to recover some, too." Xavier said.

"I'm sorry. Once more, you're right." Jean appologized.

"Well I think I'm gonna take a little ride on my bike. See you all later." Logan said then he turned and left the infirmatory.

Now, once again, only Jean and Xavier were there. They spoke to each other some more.

"For evidence I will have someone take some photographs of you. All of the bruises are still well noticed. And it will take quite a while for them to completely heal. Also I have the X-rays that show your bruised ribs. So we are set." the Professor stated.

"Okay. Who will take the pictures?" asked Jean.

"I could, unless you'd prefer Storm to, since you'll have to be undressed in order to see all of the bruises." he said.

"It doesn't really matter, it's only pictures, but I guess I'd rather have Storm take them." she said back.

"Sure, no problem." he said. "I'll contact her now."

Xavier contacted Storm and she made her way to the infirmatory. When she got there he told her what he wanted her to do. She agreed.

Storm took several pictures of Jean's body. Now the evidence of her being beaten was complete. Although, they had no evidence that she was truly raped since Duncun used a condom. Not that they didn't believe her, they just knew that the court would be very pushy with everything. That's how it is in regular trials and it would probably be worse with mutant trials.

All they have to do now is wait for a few days or so. But Jean figured she could speak with the police about what happened so at least that part would be done with. She was really scared but no matter what happens she knows her friends will stand by her the whole way. She's going to have the friends from the institute, who attend Bayville High with her, to testify. Most of them hated Duncun and knew how much of a bully and asshole he was...should I say is? She was certain they'd all help as much as they possibly could.


	7. The Police Department

﻿Later that day, around noon, Xavier, Storm, Scott and Jean went to the Bayville Police Department. Scott pushed Jean in a wheelchair for she was still too weak to walk. He put her in the car and then got her back out and placed her back in the chair when they arrived. Storm drove and the Professor sat up front with her, of course. 

Now they were entering the building. They knew this was gonna be a tough case, rape and abuse cases normally are hard but this was dealing with a mutant. Damn prejudice people...grrrr. But anyway they were prepared to be objected to a hearing or anything at that. They truly hoped to get somewhere good with this. There was plenty of evidence.

"Okay everyone, try to remain calm no matter what the outcome is. We don't need to draw any extra attention to mutants." said Professor X, knowing that Scott may get very raged if they are turned down. Good thing Logan isn't with us Xavier thought.

"Yes, of course, Professor. Besides, I'm a tad bit too weak to start anything." Jean said trying to make a little joke.

"Xavier, you know I won't cause any chaos. Although, if we're rejected I'd like to fry whoever turns us down. But I'm not going to. Don't worry, besides this is a very bad place to commit a crime." Storm said then laughed. The others laughed a little, too.

"Alright then, what do you have to say Scott?" the Professor said.

Everyone looked at Scott, knowing he'd probably be the first to snap and make a scene.

"What? I promise, I won't blast anyone. Man you guys." Scott said with a grin.

"Let's get this done with then." said Xavier.

The four headed toward the main desk in the police department. Luckily they didn't have to wait for someone because there was a man seated right behind the desk looking through some papers.

"Ecuse me sir, may we speak with a detective? " asked Storm.

The man looked up at the four people. A strange expression came over his face. "You are mutants. I saw you in the news a while ago." he said.

"Yes, we are mutants. May we please speak to someone. It's very urgent." Storm said not surprised by his words. The man looked at them and focused mainly on Jean.

"Sure mam. I have nothing against mutants. But I can't speak for anyone else working here. I do know a young lady detective who feels the same as I do. She may be the only one you can talk to that will take you seriously. I'll see if she's in her office." the man said. He then picked up a phone and paged her. He got her machine. "Um, she's away at lunch but she'll be returning in, say, about 5 minutes. If you care to wait."

"We will wait. Thank you." said Xavier.

They waited for around five minutes and the detective came through the front door of the department. She came to the desk where the man was seated.

"Ms. Snyder, there are some people her to see you." he told her and pointed to them.

"Thank you." she said kindly. Then she headed towards them. "You may follow me this way."

The group went down a short hallway and stopped at a door with a tinted, square, glass window. Ms. Snyder unlocked her door and motioned for the four to enter the room. She followed in after them and closed the door.

"Those who are standing may take a seat if you'd like. I am Ms. Anita Snyder." she said shaking all of there hands and they each introduced themselves with the shake. "What are we to be discussing?"

"We have a case of abuse and rape. Jean, you should be the one to explain it to her." said Xavier.

Jean shook her head and looked at Ms. Snyder. She was very nervous and quite terrified. But she knew she had to explain it word for word, not leaving out one horrible detail.

Ms. Snyder looked at Jean sensing her fear. She had worked with many rape and abuse cases, some just as bad and some much worse. Some which had turned into murder.

"Don't be afraid Ms. Grey, I won't judge you. I know you were abused. I can see some of the evidence on your face. I'm sure there's much more than I can see. I know you're mutants and I don't care, the law is the law and human and mutant should be treated alike. I'm not prejudice to anyone. People are all any of us are. I can't be sure what the court representatives will think or say but I'm here for you." Ms. Snyder explained hoping to make Jean feel better.

"Oh thank you Ms. Snyder. You are so kind. Why can't all people think that way? Well I guess I should get started." Jean said happily.

Jean told her story from the start of her attack to the end. She didn't keep out one little detail. Ms. Snyder took notes as Jean spoke. Jean was in tears by the end because it brought the living nightmare back. It had only happened a short while ago but Jean wanted nothing more than to continue living without remembering. Although one never forgets something as painful and horrible as this.

"Is there anything you can do about the things I told you?" Jean said still in tears. Scott's chair was as close to Jean's as he could get it and his arm was around her, his hand softly rubbing her shoulder.

"Yes Ms. Grey." Ms. Snyder said handing her a tissue, Jean thanked her. "Since you want charges pressed we must re-examine you. The photographs taken and evidence written down at your home may be used but we must take some of our own so the court can't say that yours are just bluffs. The court system is very strict. So I will have you set to be examined here and photographed. All the pictures you took and we take, along with the information and evidence report, will be put on file. I will try my best to find you a wonderful lawyer to make this easier. And, I will also pay a visit to this Duncan Mathews fellow and ask him some questions. He is likely to lie. Most attackers do."

"Yes. Thank you so much." Jean said feeling a bit better.

"Okay, Mr. Xavier and Ms. Monroe, could you please wait here until she's examined and photographed? We can't have a lot of people in our examinating room." said Detective Snyder.

They understood and agreed to stay behind and wait. The detective walked to an elevator and followed pushing Jean's wheelchair.

After waiting for a good 45 minutes Ms. Snyder and Scott with Jean came back to the room.

"Okay, everything is set. I will give you a call as soon as I find you a lawyer. That will probably be by tomorrow. I like to move quickly with my cases. I know people hate waiting for justice, at least I do." said Detective Snyder and then once again she shook all of their hands. "I hope you all have a nice day. I'm gonna see about getting you a lawyer now and then I'll go pay Mr. Mathews a visit. Good day."

They all thanked her again and left her office and then finally left the police station. Now they were on their way home.

"Scott, so far I think this went well. I hope the rest does, too, but I have my doubts on that." Jean said feeling happy about the police visit.

"Oh Jean, don't worry honey, from what Logan told us, I don't think Duncan will lie." said Scott.

"I hope you're right, for everyone's sake." Jean said back.

Jean and Scott kissed each other for a couple of minutes. And soon they were home. They all exited the car and entered the mansion. Storm went upstairs. Xavier headed towards the infirmatory. Scott picked Jean up out of the wheelchair and carried her to the infirmatory behind Professor X.

So far everything was going well. Now there was just the wait for the nice detective's call. Hopefully she can find a non-mutant-hating lawyer. But the odds were probably slim.


	8. The Good News

﻿Back at the Bayville Police Department Detective Anita Snyder had already made a few phone calls to find Jean a great lawyer. It is hard to find a good one that will treat humans and mutants the same. She's been through a huge list of lawyers and most of them said they wouldn't even do the case. A couple said they would but really didn't care if Jean Grey won or not. How cruel and unfair Ms. Snyder thought. 

She couldn't think of anyone who'd do the case fairly. Unless she contacted her brother, Mitchell Snyder, who lived the whole way across the States in Los Angeles, California. She didn't know of anyone else. She's quite sure he'd fly to New York and do the case. And he should be fair. She remembers that they were taught to treat everyone the same. Their parents were very loving people and never judged anyone. She only hoped her brother remembers that and follows it.

Detective Snyder decided that it's definately worth the try. She wanted to get Jean a wonderful lawyer who'd be fair and just. She knew her brother was a great one. So she gave him a call.

She called him on his cell phone and luckily he wasn't too busy to have a little discussion.

"Hey sis, what's up?" said Mitchell.

"Not a lot, but I was wondering if you'd be able to make it to New York?" Anita asked.

"I'll have to check my schedule. Why?" he said.

"Well, I have a case on abuse and rape. I can't find a fair, good lawyer who's not prejudice. It's so damn frustrating. I've been through a big list of lawyers and it's pretty much the same thing." she explained to him.

"Hmmm...who is the victim?" he asked.

"Her name is Jean Grey. She's a mutant." she told him.

"A mutant. Wow." he said surprisingly.

"Man, don't tell me you hate them, too? There's enough of them kind of people here to last a lifetime." she said feeling upset and depressed.

"Oh no. I don't hate them. I don't judge people. To me we are all the same inside. Don't you remember what mom and dad told us?" he said to her.

"Great! Yes, of course I remember. I was just hoping you haven't forgot." she said happier.

"No way. I don't really know any mutants but they are just people, right? And I'd be happy to do the case. I'll get to see how they really are. A lot of people her talk badly of them as well." he said.

"Good. Yes they are people and to me they are no different than us, aside from their powers, I feel they are just more evolved." she said.

"Exactly. Let me check my book and see if I am free. I should be on vacation anyway soon." he told her.

"Okay. I'll wait." she said.

In a couple minutes Mitchell told Anita that he'd be able to fly to New York by the next day. She was very happy and she thanked him many times. They said their goodbyes and hung up.

Immediately after hanging up with her brother, Detective Snyder took out Jean's file and scanned it for her phone number. She picked the phone back up and dialed. She couldn't wait to share the good news. She was suppose to be home already about 2 or 3 hours ago. But she wanted to get as much accomplished with this case as possible. She was a hard worker. She never liked to give up easy on anything. Anyway, the phone rang.

Logan picked it up. "Hello." he said.

"Yes, is Jean Grey able to come to the phone. I must speak to her now. This is Detective Anita Snyder. It's about her case." said Ms. Snyder.

"Oh...sure. I'll have someone wheel her or carry her to the phone. Could you hold?" he said.

"Yes, no problem sir." she told him.

Logan put the phone on the table and ran to the infirmatory. Scott and Jean were the only two in there. He told them that the detective was on the phone and Scott gently picked up Jean and they all went up to the living room. Scott placed Jean on a soffa. And she picked up the phone.

"This is Jean." said Jean.

"Ms. Grey, I have some wonderful news for you. I have a lawyer who won't judge you for being a mutant." said Ms. Snyder.

"Really! That's great!" Jean exclaimed then grabbed her side. "Who?"

"I contacted my brother, Mitchell Snyder, from Califoria. He's flying to New York tomorrow morning. He's very exited to do the case. He said he never met a mutant and would like to know one." explained the detective.

"That's so cool. I'm glad to hear this. But you said you wouldn't be able to let us know until tomorrow." said Jean.

"Well, when you left I got on the ball and started calling lawyers. I didn't want to give up until I found someone. And it was getting very frustrating. Most of them were idiots when I told them what you are. So I thought of my brother. And my work for today isn't completely done. I still have to pay Mr. Mathews a visit. So I will talk with you sometime tomorrow. Have a good evening." said Ms. Snyder.

"Yes. Thank you. You, too. Bye." Jean said very happily.

Jean hung up the phone smiling. She was very surprised at how this was going so far. She has a feeling that it won't go so well at court though.

"So Jean, what did she say?" said Scott demandingly.

"Yeah red, I wanna know, too." Logan blurted out.

"Hold your horses. I have a lawyer. It's the detective's brother and he's coming the whole way to New York from California." Jean said.

"Wow Jean that's great!" Scott yelled and then he sat beside her and gave her a kiss on the lips.

"How amazing." Logan said. "You should tell Chuck and the others. I'm sure they'll want to share this joy."

"Yes. I'll contact the Professor and have him contact the rest. I'll tell him that you and Scott are already here with me." Jean said.

Jean did just as she said. And Xavier informed the other students and everyone else there to join him in the living room. Soon everyone in the mansion was gathered. They were all wondering what was up. Jean told them her great news and they all cheered.

"Like, that's totally cool Jean. I think we should par-ty." said Kitty doing little movements with her hips.

Kurt looked at her and laughed. Rogue looked at her and thought You are so strange. And the rest just laughed. Everyone was happy about Jean's news. It was all going very well and they all hope it continues to run along smoothly.

"I don't know about a party. But I guess we could order some pizza." said the Professor with a smile, knowing how everyone loved it.

"Pizza. Yum yum." said Kurt.

That's one thing the whole mansion could agree on. So they all celebrated Jean's good news. They did so because they never thought, even in their wildest dreams, that this would go this well.


	9. The Hospital Visit

ï»¿Detective Anita Snyder was getting ready to leave her office and the the police station. She grabbed Jean Grey's folder of information and etc. for the case. Ms. Snyder was very interested in what Duncan Mathews had to say about the whole thing. She had some feelings that he would lie. Although, she hopes he'd tell the truth. It would definately help the case flow smoother and make the trial much easier. 

The detective left the building and walked to her car in the parking lot. Then once inside she started driving to the hospital. In somewhere between 10 and 15 minutes she arrived and left her car. In no time she was walking into the Bayville Hospital's front doors. She moved towards a big desk-like counter. There were about 5 individual sections but only 3 were open. She headed to the one on her right. There was a young lady seated there looking at something on her computer.

"Excuse me, I'd like to visit Mr. Duncan Mathews." said Ms. Snyder.

"Are you a relative or friend?" the young woman asked.

"No, I'm Detective Anita Snyder. I'd just like to have a word with him on a case. It should take no more than 20 minutes, if even that." said Anita showing the woman her badge.

"Okay. You can see him, just let me look him up in the computer and make sure he's well enough." the woman told her.

It took only a few seconds to find his name and room number.

"You may go. He's in room 207. Take those elevators over there. The room should be to your left and a little ways down the hall when you exit the elevator." the young lady stated.

"Thank you, I really appreciate it." said Ms. Snyder.

The detective walked towards the elevator, pushed the button and when it opened she entered. She went to the 2nd floor and left the elevator. She walked down the hall looking for his room.

"203...205...here it is, 207." she said out loud to herself.

Ducan's door was opened so she walked right in. He was just laying there with the top of the bed slightly elevated. He saw Ms. Snyder and was wondering who she was.

"Hello Mr. Mathews. I'm Detective Anita Snyder and I'm here to ask you some questions about what happened with you and Ms. Grey. It'll only take a little bit." said the detective.

"Damn. So she pressed charges?" he said not thinking she would go through with it because of her being a mutant and all.

"Yes, she pressed charges against you. So you know what this is all about?" said Anita.

"Yeah, I probably would have lied but I know if I do I'll be in 'big' trouble. And it will be better on me to tell the truth. I just can't believe that bitch ratted on me." he said in an angry tone.

"No name calling. So you admit that you drugged, beat and raped Jean Grey the other day in the storage room at Bayville High around 4:15pm to around 5:00pm?" she asked in shock that he confessed so easily.

"Yeah, I admit it. And I don't really feel guilty about it either. My conscience is fine, I just know I won't mess with her again. That's why I'm here. I don't know who did this to me but I garentee it was someone she knows." he said.

"You're right, you won't do this to her again. In fact, you won't be doing this to anyone else. At least for a long while, if the judge is fair. As a cop I shouldn't say something like this but I don't even care who put you here. It was wrong because this didn't do much, only freighten you some, but you would have lied otherwise. Am I right?" she said feeling somewhat frustrated by his attitude.

"You think it was right that someone nearly killed me? I have two broken ribs, a fractured ankle and a stab wound on my left side, I could of had a broken nose, I look like shit and if someonce else hadn't found me I'd be dead. You think that was good? " he asked ignoring her question.

"No, of course not but look what you did to Ms. Grey and if she hadn't decided to press charges then you may have gotten away free to do it again if someone hadn't slowed you down. And you could have killed her but she's a strong young woman. Now answer my question, would you have lied if someone hadn't put you here and threatened you?" she said and he just stared at her. "Damn it, answer me Mr. Mathews!" she was furious.

"Okay lady. Yes, I would have lied." he said rudely.

"Have you done any of this to any other girls?" asked Ms. Snyder trying to calm herself.

"No, just her. I like hearing her scream and cry." he said smiling wickedly.

"You are crazy. What do you mean by that?" she said feeling sick to her stomach.

"I mean it wasn't the first with her. When we dated I forced her into things by threatening her. And I had drugged her one time before." he said as if he felt good about it.

"Man. You're odd, most people lie greatly about this kinda stuff, but you. Anyway, so you've raped her and beat her when you two were dating? Plus drugged her once?" she asked.

"Yeah. It was easy, after I drugged her up some she was helpless. I didn't even know she was a mutant then but apparently the shit I used weakened not only her human fuctions but also her mutant abilities. I never hit her too much then though, only enough to hurt her. I knew her friends would see the marks if I beat her badly. And I didn't need that. But in the beginning of our relationship, if I wanted something and she refused, I'd just threaten her. See she was very popular, before the mutant stuff came out, and I said I'd say terrible things about her if she didn't do as I asked. And she didn't want rumors spread about her that would ruin her popularity. So she'd end up giving in. And that's all I'm telling you" he explained.

"Wow. You're info will help this case a lot." said the detective.

"What do you mean, they won't believe only your word and you're not taking notes." he said confused by her statement.

"No, you're absolutely right. But they will believe this..." said Anita as she pulled out a mini tape recorder from her jacket pocket. She had recorded their entire conversation, he was completely unaware. This is so wonderful she thought.

"Damn you. I only said that all cause I figured you'd have no way to prove I said it." he said very angry.

"Ha, I came here with that in mind. And now we won't need that used condom for evidence. This may be all we'll need. I guess I should be on my way now. Nice talking to you Mr. Mathews. Good night." said Ms. Snyder. Then she got up and walked out of his hospital room leaving him very annoyed and angry.

The detective left the hospital and got into her car.

"I'll call Jean Grey first thing tomorrow morning as I promised. I'm sure she will be very happy." Anita said to herself. Then she drove off and headed home to get some sleep, which she had well earned. She felt she accomplished a lot of good in that day. She was tired.

At the mansion mostly everyone was asleep or heading to bed. Jean was able to sleep in her own room now but she couldn't sleep on her bruised ribs so it would be hard. Fortunately, Scott was told that he could stay with her as he did while she was in the infirmatory. They were almost ready for bed.

"Scott, would you sleep on the bed with me? Please. You won't hurt me." she said.

"I don't know, what if I bump your side? I could hurt you." he said.

"No you won't. Please. I'll lay on my other side and sleep on your shoulder." she begged.

"Okay sweetheart." he said giving in to her begging, he couldn't resist that and she knew it.

So Scott laid down and Jean laid down with him just as she said. They put their arms around each other after he pulled the covers up over them to their waist. She felt so safe and warm with him.

"I love you. Goodnight." Jean said softly.

"I love you, too. Night." Scott said back just as soft.

The two shared a loving kiss for a short while and then they laid in each others arms until they fell asleep.


	10. More Good News

It was already the next day and mostly everyone at the institute was awake. Scott had to go and do some training with the younger students. He wanted someone to stay with Jean, usually she would have helped him in the training but obviously she's in no condition to do so. The older students, such as Kitty, Rogue and Kurt didn't have to be at this session so he thought he'd see if one of them could stay with Jean. He was quite sure one of them would. He went to Rogue and Kitty's room first since he was on the girls' side of the mansion. 

"May I come in girls?" Scott asked as he knocked on their door lightly. He knew they were awake because a few minutes ago he heard them arguing about something, he wasn't sure what though.

"Yeah Scott." said Kitty.

"No wait a minute! Kitty! I'm not completely dressed. I have to get a shirt on." Rogue said sounding quite irritated that she told him to just walk in.

"Oh my god Rogue. It's not like he's never seen a girl without a shirt on. I mean, you have a bra on and that." Kitty said.

"Shut up." Rogue said as she threw a pillow at Kitty and finally found a shirt and put it on.

"Okay Scott now you can come in." said Kitty with a grin.

Rogue glared at her. "You are so damn lucky you're my friend and I don't hate ya."

"Awww...Rogue...are you saying you love me?" Kitty joked.

"Um, yeah, I suppose I am." Rogue said surprisingly.

Scott had entered the room while the girls were talking. He just smiled at them.

"What do ya want?" Rogue asked.

"Well, if one of you wouldn't mind, I'd like for you to stay with Jean for a bit while I do the training session. I just don't want her to be alone. I'm sure she'd be fine cause she can move around a bit better and that but..." Scott went on and on.

"Sure. Like, I don't have anything to do today. Lance is being a jerk." said Kitty cutting him off.

"Nothing new there." said Rogue sarcastically.

"So you'll stay with her, good. What about you Rogue? If you don't want to hang with Jean and Kitty then I could use your help in the session." Scott said.

"Uh...I think I would prefer to stay with Jean. I'd like to talk to her some. I wanna be her friend and I can't really do that if I don't know who she really is. I was always so damn mean to her and she ways always so nice to me. So if ya don't mind, could I stay with her? Kitty could ya help Scott sugar? Please." Rogue said.

"Like, I guess so. You and Jean really should talk things out." said Kitty. "Okay Scott, let's start our training."

"Alright. See you later Rogue. You know where Jean is." Scott said heading out of the room with Kitty right behind him.

So Scott and Kitty went off to train the youngersters while Rogue went to see Jean.

Jean was on her bed sitting up just staring at the wall when Rogue got to her room. Her door was open so Rogue walked in. Jean saw her and thought Oh man, I hope she's here to be company and not a pain. Rogue walked towards the bed.

"Hi, how are ya feelin'? Ya look much better than ya did a few days ago." Rogue said.

"Are you feeling okay yourself?" Jean asked shocked.

"What do ya mean?" asked Rogue confused. "Do I look sick or somethin'. I don't feel sick."

"No, it's just that you are being nice to me." said Jean.

"Oh that, well, I don't wanna hate ya anymore. Truth is, I never really did. That's why I'm here, I wanna talk to ya and try to be friends. Can I?" Rogue said as she looked to the bed beside Jean.

"Wow. Yeah sure, you can sit beside me." Jean said and she slid over a bit.

Rogue sat down and the two talked for a while. Jean knew that deep down Rogue was a wonderful person. She thought she was beautiful, and she is, but now she also sees her inner beauty. She's truly beautiful Jean thought. They went on talking for a good hour when all of a sudden the phone rang.

"Could you get that?" Jean said because Rogue was closer to the phone.

"Yeah." said Rogue.

She picked up the phone."Hello."

"May I speak with Jean Grey, Ms.?" said a woman.

"Yeah, here she is." Rogue handed the phone to Jean and Rogue had a feeling who it was.

"Hi." said Jean.

"Ms. Grey."

"Yeah, what's up?" said Jean.

"Well my brother is in New York now. I guess he'll be staying at a hotel. But anyway, I did see Mr. Mathews yesterday evening." said Ms. Snyder.

"Yeah, how did that go?" Jean said depressingly.

"Don't sound so upset dear, I have great news. I have our conversation all on tape. I had a mini tape recorder hidden it my jacket. He had no idea and he rattled on and on. He gave good info. about what happened and even some past events between you and him. So the evidence should be complete. Now all we should have to worry about is the actual trial. And my brother wants to meet you tomorrow morning." said the detective.

"Oh my god! That's so wonderful! Thank you so, so much. You've been great. What time tomorrow? I normally would be going to school but I'm still not well enough." said Jean very happily.

"Well probably around 8:00 o'clock. But I will call you later after I speak more with him and see what time for sure." said Ms. Snyder.

"Okay. Thanks again." said Jean with a big smile.

"You're very welcome. I have to go. I just had to tell you the news." said the detective.

"Bye." said Jean.

Jean handed Rogue the phone and she hung it up. Jean looked so happy and she hasn't felt this happy since that evening. Rogue looked at Jean waiting for the news. Jean just glanced at Rogue and threw her arms around her. Rogue was taken by surprise but she instantly returned the embrace.

"Um Jean, ain't ya gonna tell me the news?" said Rogue as she rested her head on the top of Jean's.

"Oh sorry. Detective Snyder tricked Duncan and got their whole conversation on tape. He's so stupid. I can't believe he fell for that." Jean said and then she moved out of the embrace.

"What a dumb-ass. But that's great news. I hope your trial goes just as well." Rogue said.

"Yeah, thanks, me too. Her brother, the lawyer, wants to meet me tomorrow sometime in the morning. She thinks it's 8:00 but she's not certain. If I need anyone to say how much of an idiot he is would you be one of them people to testify?" Jean said.

"I know about the cruel shit he does to people so sure sugar. Although I'll probably be really paranoid in front of all them people, but I'll do it cause I know ya'd do the same for me." Rogue said nervously.

"Oh, I love you" Jean said and hugged Rogue again.

The two just hung together and talked some more. It was around 11:00am and they were getting hungry. So Rogue helped Jean down to the kitchen and they had lunch together. Afterwards they went back upstairs and did more talking. It was amazing how the girls got along so well. Why was I so mean to her, she is so sweet and beautiful, inside as much as outside Rogue thought.

"You were jealous and felt you had to measure up to me. But you realized that we all love you the way you are. And thanks, so are you." Jean said realizing she had read Rogue's mind, again.

"Jean, please don't do that." Rogue said.

"Sorry, I guess my powers are full-strenth again." Jean said smiling.

"It's okay, just don't make a habbit of reading my mind." Rogue said and a small grin escaped her lips.

"Alright, I'll try." said Jean.

They hugged once more then went back to their chatting.


	11. Abiding Time

The day was passing quickly. Rogue and Jean spent pretty much the whole day together. It was now early evening and everyone just finished with dinner and all of that. Jean and Rogue were back up in Jean's room but now Scott was there as well. He apologized for taking so long with the training and a few other things the Professor had asked him to do. 

"I really am sorry that I was busy all day." he said to the girls.

"No, it's fine Scott. I enjoyed spending the day with Rogue. She's a very interesting person." said Jean smiling.

"And Rogue, how do you feel? I'm only curious." said Scott.

"I enjoyed it, too. It was really nice. I can't believe how much I talked today." Rogue said feeling strangly happy because she never knew she could feel so happy by spending time with Jean.

"Do you have a fever?" Scott said jokingly.

"No. I just figure, we live together and it's about time I start bein' her friend. It's not like she ever hurt me." said Rogue.

"Yes it is about time. Would you two like to hang out some more cause if so I have a few more things to do?" Scott stated.

"Sure, that would be nice." said Jean.

"Yeah, it would. But don't ya wanna tell him somethin' before he goes?" said Rogue.

"What? Oh...yes...Detective Snyder called." Jean said.

"Yeah, what did she say? Hopefully something good." Scott said hoping for more good news.

"It's definately good. She did see Duncan. And he is so damn stupid. She spoke to him about the case and everything he did to me. I guess she wasn't taking any notes but she tape recorded him. She has the whole conversation on tape. He had no clue and he completely spilled his guts." Jean said with a little laugh.

"Man he really is dumb. But I suppose his stupidity is great for your case and the trial ahead, he definately won't be denying anything now." said Scott with a laugh.

"Mmmm hmmm. And her brother wants to meet with me tomorrow sometime to talk this over and etc. She's not sure what time but she said she'd call back and let me know." said Jean smiling.

"Oh hon that's great. Is that all I need to know?" he said happily.

"Yep. As of now." she said back.

"Okay then, I'm gonna go and let you two chill some more." he said then gave Jean a kiss on the lips. She kissed him back, of course.

Rogue looked at them and bent her head down. She wished she could have that. But she knew that even if she would have a boyfriend he'd probably ditch her. She couldn't give him all she wanted to. And she couldn't even kiss. She started to feel sad and depressed like she usually did. Scott noticed how the joy over her face suddenly became pain and sadness. He went to the side of the bed where she was sitting.

"Rogue, someday you'll have someone. And hopefully someday you can control your powers. The Professor's been trying to figure out how he may be able to help you but you just have to be patient." Scott said as he put his arm around her.

"Thanks sugar, I hope ya are right." Rogue said and she threw her arms around him. He hugged her back just the same.

"Are you gonna be okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I should be." she answered as she moved away from him.

Scott got up and walked out of the room. He felt sad for Rogue. He knew it had to be terrilbe to not be able to touch. He went back downstairs to do the things he said he was going to do.

The two girls remained in the room. Rogue still had that painful look of sorrow upon her face. Jean reached over to her.

"Come here." Jean said as she touched Rogue's shoulder over her shirt.

"Why, I'm fine." said Rogue.

"No you're not honey. Please. I'm here for you." Jean said softly and she rubbed Rogue's arm over the shirt sleeve.

"I know. It's just that..." Rogue began to speak and then she turned to Jean and buried her face in Jean's hair that was resting against her neck.

"Oh Rogue. It's okay." Jean said in a comforting voice.

For a long while the two laid there. Jean stroked Rogue's shoulder lenth hair and kept talking to her softly. Eventually it calmed her down.

Time was still passing quickly. Jean and Rogue ended up falling asleep together. The phone began ringing and neither of them heard it. So downstairs Storm answered it.

"Hello. Ororo speaking."

"May I speak to Ms. Grey? This is Detective Snyder."

"I think she may have fell asleep but I'll check." said Storm.

"Well if she's sleeping don't wake her. It's nothing personal. Besides you know everything anyway." said Anita.

"Yes, well you can tell me and I will take a message for her." Storm said as she picked up a note pad and pen.

"Alright, just tell her that my brother, Mitchell Snyder, wants to see her at 9:00 tomorrow morning. He's just going to go there to make it easier on her." said Ms. Snyder.

"Okay. Thank you." said Storm as she finished jotting down the information.

"You're welcome. Bye." said Anita.

Storm hung up the phone and headed upstairs to Jean's room. When she got there she saw the two girls sleeping. She put the note on Jean's bed stand and left because she didn't want to wake them. She decided she'd tell her in the morning as well incase she didn't see the note.

It was 10pm and most everyone was either asleep or getting ready to go to sleep. The day went by so fast. Jean and Rogue were still asleep when Scott came into Jean's room. He kissed Jean on the forehead and she moaned softly. He figured she'd be okay since Rogue was with her so he went to his own room. The next day was a school day and he needed some sleep. He'd rather stay home with Jean but he knew the Professor wouldn't let him. So he went to bed and fell asleep almost immediately.


	12. Meeting Mitchell Snyder

Monday morning has now arrived. Everyone was running around as usual, except for Jean because she can't. But anyway, Rogue had already left Jean's room and Scott was there with her. She found the note on her bed stand and felt happy that she was going to see her lawyer but also very nervous. She's been feeling nervous a lot lately and she doesn't know how much longer she can go on before she totally breaks down. She wants Scott to be with her when the lawyer is speaking with her. I sure hope the Professor will let him stay home, at least until the meeting is through she thought. She had a dazed look on her face as she was deep in thought. 

Scott noticed. "Honey, are you okay?"

"Um, yeah, I'm fine. I am just very nervous. I know the trial is getting closer. I mean I want to get it here and over with but I am so damn nervous. And so scared that something will go wrong. What if the judge is a mutant hater. What if no one in the court even cares what happened because I'm a mutant. Well except for any of you that may be able to attend and, of course, Mr. Snyder. Damn I hate this shit. It's seriously gonna drive off the edge." Jean went on and on starting to feel quite insecure.

"Oh baby, don't worry about all of that now. Try and calm down. You've done so well with everything so far so don't cave in now. But no matter, I will be here for you. I will always be here for you." Scott said as he sat down on the bed beside her and pulled her into his warm arms. She quickly returned his embrace and buried her face into his chest and began crying. She's been holding it in for so long trying to be strong but she couldn't pretend to be completely fine any longer.

While Scott held Jean tightly in his arms and stroked her long, red hair Professor X came by the room and reached over to the door, which was open but he knocked anyway. He didn't want to just intrude on them. He saw how much pain Jean was in and he knew long before this day that she'd eventually break down. And he also knows that it probably won't be the last.

"Professor. Uh, you can come in." said Scott. "She's just a little edgy now. But I'm sure she'll be fine."

"I was going to have you go on to school but I've been thinking that maybe you should just take the day off. And now that I see you two I know that my thinking was right. And maybe you should take off until this whole thing is over." the Professor said to Scott.

"Today is good but I don't think I can take that much time off. This is our last year." Scott said.

"True but she needs you and she has to be out of school for a while due to this." said the Professor.

"Yes that is true but what about all of the work." Scott asked.

"I will call the school and have your teachers send the work here. I'll just ask someone to pick it up everyday and bring it home. That's what I'm doing for Jean. It will be no problem at all." Xavier answered.

"Okay, but who will bring all of that home? It would have to be someone who is responsable enough." said Scott.

"Yes. I've already assigned Kitty to get Jean's. Who would you like to get yours?" said Professor X.

"Well I'm not sure. Kurt's in a few of my classes so maybe he could. And I think he should be responsable enough." said Scott.

"Alright then, I will assign him to it. He already volunteered to retrieve Jean's but Kitty spoke sooner." said the Professor.

"Yeah she has a big mouth." Scott joked. "Okay. We're all set then."

"I'm going to go now and tell him. It won't be too long and Jean's lawyer will be here." said Xavier as he left the room.

The Professor spoke to Kurt and he had no problem with his job. He was happy that he was trusted enough to do such a thing. And it wasn't long until all of the students were off to school or to their classes within the institute.

Scott had finally calmed Jean down. Her eyes were blood shot from her crying. She felt somewhat better now that she had let out some of her bottled up pain.

It was 10 minutes 'til 9:00am. Jean and Scott were the only two in the room waiting for Mr. Snyder to arrive. His arrival was a bit sooner because there was a knock on the door. Scott got up and answered it.

"Hi." said Scott smiling.

"Hello, I'm Jean's lawyer, Mitchell Snyder." said the lawyer as he shook Scott's hand.

"Yes, I've heard about you. You're so kind to do this." Scott said and he showed Mr. Snyder into the room where he and Jean were.

"Thank you, it's no problem at all Mr. ..." Mitchell began.

"Summers." Scott finished.

"Mr. Summers." said Mitchell.

Jean smiled when she saw him. "I'm so glad you're here." she said. The two shook hands.

"Detective Anita Snyder, my sister, as you most likely know, gave me a copy of the tape on the conversation between her and Mr. Mathews. So I have that in my briefcase. I'm just going to ask you some questions about what happened because although you've said everything to Ms. Snyder you still must tell me, too. Sorry but that's how it works. And you may have to repeat it all at court as well. I really am sorry, I hate having victims of any kind of abuse speak of their attack." Mr. Snyder explained.

"Oh, it's fine. I'll be okay talking with you but I may be a bit uneasy at court. You know, many people will hear me and I'll probably freak out or something." said Jean.

Scott was seated beside her and Mr. Snyder was across from them.

"That is usually the case. My clients, most of the time, are completely fine speaking with me but in court it's a different story. I guess it's because of the pressure. Court can be so cruel. But I will try harder than I can to win this. Everyone deserves a fair trial." Jean's lawyer said.

"Yes, I'm glad you feel that way." Jean said.

"Now can you begin with when and where the attack started please?" he asked.

"Yeah sure, it was after school. I'm not sure of the exact time but it was about 4:15pm and ..." Jean explained her story from start to finish.

Mitchell Snyder listened carefully until the end. He hated to hear of such pain inflicted to a person but it was his job and he usually always won his trials. Although this one will be a little more harder, he is confident that they'll win, the tape will be great evidence against Duncan.

"Okay Ms. Grey. That will be all for now. I will contact the court about setting a date for your trial. It will probably be this week. I'm not sure. But I have to go and get some things together for whatever day we have to be at court. I will give you a call as soon as I know when we'll be scheduled. Thank you for your time. And thank you for telling me what happened." said Mr. Snyder as he shook Jean's hand. Then he shook Scott's again and let himself out the same way he came in.

"Wow that went well." Jean said happily.

"Yes it did. See there's nothing to worry about honey." Scott said and he kissed her. They kissed for a while.

"I hope you're completely right. Now let's go and get something to eat. I am starving." Jean said.

"Me too." Scott said as he and Jean got up. Jean could walk some but she still needed someone to help her.

They went to eat and to spend the rest of the day together.


	13. Just Waiting

It was already half way through the day and Jean and Scott just hung out in her room talking. They were hoping to hear something from Mitchell Snyder but they haven't yet. They knew they had to be patient, he said he'd call as soon as he found something out. So all they have to do is wait. 

"Scott, I really wish he'd call us soon. I am kind of getting impatient." Jean said.

"Yes I know, me, too. But hon you know we have to wait and hopefully he'll call before today is completely over. There's still a few hours or so before school is out so do you want to go back downstairs until it's about time for the others to come home?" said Scott.

"I don't know, I'm kind of comfortable here. And I'm a little tired." she said back.

"Okay then, we can stay here and you can take a nap. Maybe I'll take one with you." he told her.

"Alright." she said smiling.

So they two laid down together to try for some rest. They really were exhausted from everything. Now it was time to just relax.

Downstairs in the kitchen Logan was looking through the newspaper. He didn't do so in the morning because the students were everywhere and just driving him crazy. He scanned down through the articles and ran across something that really caught his eye. It was about Jean coming out with what had happened to her. Strangely, the main part of the article didn't diss her but some of the comments from other people were kind of cruel. You know the things people who hate mutants say. But there was a picture of her and Duncan with a few lines of writing below. Logan knew that this wouldn't be good, especially for when she goes back to school. Pretty much everyone hates mutants and they are going to totally bash her when she goes back. But Jean knew all of that when she came forward. And she said that she didn't care if it went public incase there were other victims. Logan remembered how she said that she hoped maybe that would encourage anyone else to come forward. Sometimes one person can do a lot.

Logan just read the whole article. He thought he'd show it to Jean sometime later. He would now but he didn't want to bother her any. So he just put it aside and went on with his other daily routines.

Meanwhile at Bayville High there was some talking about Jean. Kurt and Rogue were in history together and they heard a girl and a guy close by them talking about Jean. Apparently they had read the paper article.

"I can't believe that weirdo would turn him in for that. He probably didn't even lay one hand on her." said the girl.

"Yeah I know, but he did confess. She probably forced him to. She's just a stupid mutant bitch who wants start trouble with our kind." said the guy.

"I agree. Why can't they just leave us alone? I hate them. And to think I use to like that girl." she said.

"Yeah." he said.

Kurt and Rogue looked at each other with complete anger and frustration and Kurt stood up. Luckily the teacher wasn't in the classroom at this point.

"Shut up. Both of you." he said angerly. "You talk about us as if we are poison. Or that we will kill you or something."

"Well how do we know? You're so strange. You are poluting our world." said the girl.

Now Rogue jumped out of her seat and nearly flew into the girl. Kurt grabbed her arm and stopped her.

"What the hell Kurt! Let me go. If they wanna start a fight they got it." Rogue yelled and glared at them.

"No, we can't fight. We must show a good example for mutants, not make people fear us." Kurt said.

"I guess ya're right. But they already fear us so what's the damn point?" Rogue said back to him.

"Just sit down, please." he said.

"Okay. Fine. But I hope ya sit, too. Ya got up first." she said.

"Yes. I will." he said sitting back down.

"What's a matter? You a bunch of chickens?" said the guy.

"No, we'd just be waistin' our time fightin' ya creeps." said Rogue.

"Admit it you stupid freak. I mean, Rogue, you were a freak before you were known as a mutant. Now you're not only a freaky goth but now everyone knows you're mutant. A total freak." said they guy.

"Fuck you. Go to hell ya asshole ." Rogue said feeling very angry and she felt like giving him a taste of her powers but she knew it would be wrong.

Finally the teacher came back in and everything went back to the way it was before he left the room. It was quiet and peaceful. If they start after school they ain't gettin' away with it Rogue thought.

Back at the institute the phone finally rang. Jean was still asleep but Scott was awake. He reached over and picked it up.

"Hello, Scott Summers speaking."

"Hi Mr. Summers. This is Mitchell. Is Jean available?" said Mr. Snyder.

"Yeah but she's asleep so could I take a message for her?" said Scott.

"Oh sure. I only called to say that I spoke with the court and we can start the trial tomorrow at 1:00pm. We would of had to wait but I said that I'd like to have it as soon as possible and that was the earliest opening." he explained.

"That's fine. I'll tell her as soon as she wakes. Thank you so much." Scott said with great joy.

"Okay. I will talk to you tomorrow. We will meet at my office at 12:00am just to go over a few things and maybe give her some practice on how the actual thing will go. That usually helps. You have the address, right?" said Mitchell.

"Yes we do." said Scott.

"Good, so then see you both tomorrow." said the lawyer.

"Yes, bye." said Scott.

Now Scott was very happy. He couldn't wait for Jean to awake so he could tell her the news. He was surprised that she didn't hear the phone or him talking. He wasn't loud but he just thought that she'd hear him.

He just laid there with her in his arms and ended up falling back asleep himself.


	14. Starting to Break Down

It's the end of the school day and all of the others are home. Rogue is in a really pissy mood due to the jerks at school. Kurt, Kitty and her came home together and they were all in the institute's kitchen. 

"Like, what's wrong with you Rogue?" asked Kitty.

"Just leave me alone. I'm sorry but I'm just not too happy now." Rogue answered with great anger in her voice.

"Like, obviously." Kitty said.

"Kitty, leave me the hell alone!" Rogue yelled feeling very annoyed by her friend at this point.

"Sor-ry. Grump." Kitty mumbled.

Rogue was so mad that she almost slapped Kitty across the face. But she stopped herself because she knows it's not Kitty's fault and she just wants to know what the problem is. Kurt sat at the kitchen table and watched the girls.

"Kitty, I'm sorry. But as ya know, I'm not in a real good mood. These fuckin' dumb assholes at school really pissed me off. I just wanna beat the hell outta them both. Stupid-ass people. They don't know shit about Jean so I wish they'd just shut their mouths." said Rogue trying to be calmer but she wasn't and she slammed her fist down on the table. "Ouch." she said softly.

"Man. What are they saying?" asked Kitty.

Kurt grabbed Rogue's wrist. "Let's not go there. You'll just get angrier if you talk more about it. And no one needs your temper."

"Whatever Kurt. Then ya tell her. I don't how ya can't be pissed 'bout it." Rogue said.

"I am. But there's nothing we can do about them kind of people. Well nothing legal." Kurt said as he let her wrist go.

"Yeah ya're right. But I'd prefer ya tellin' her anyway 'cause I need to talk to Jean. I need to warn her that she'll be completely bashed when she's able to return to school. So see ya'll later." Rogue said as she started to leave the kitchen but she stopped and turned to Kitty and gave her a hug. "I really am sorry for chewin' ya out honey."

"Like, it's okay." Kitty said.

Then Rogue headed up to see Jean. Kurt and Kitty stayed in the kitchen and got a drink and talked. He explained the whole thing to her.

"Damn creeps. If Duncan didn't do anything to her then why was she all messed up? Why would they think someone would want that to happen to then. Yeah, she made him hurt her, get a life. And what the hell do they know anyway?" Kitty said now understanding why Rogue was so angry.

"Exactly. They know nothing. I'm just going to try to ignore then tomorrow. If you hear anything try and do the same." Kurt said with an upset look on his face.

"Okay. I'll try." she said back.

They hung in the kitchen and went on with their conversation. They were great friends. Although, Kurt still annoys her by popping in front of her all the time.

Upstairs in Jean's room Rogue had just arrived. Scott was still in there with her and they were both awake. He had already told her about Mitchell calling and she was kind of happy.

"Hey ya'll. Um, I have to let ya know that school is gonna be really rough for ya when ya go back." Rogue said unhappily with a slight hint of anger.

"What do you mean, it's already hard with everyone knowing we're mutants now." said Scott.

"Well I was mainly refering to Jean 'cause some creeps were sayin' shit today and it really pissed me off. I almost beat their asses. Thank God Kurt was there or I would have and probably gotten myself expelled." Rogue said feeling the anger coming back.

"What?! What are they saying" Jean asked looking really scared and sorrowful and she felt a sickness in her stomach.

"They're pretty much sayin' that ya're a liar 'bout what happened to ya. That if Duncan did hurt ya then ya made him by usin' ya're powers on him." Rogue explained.

"What the hell!" Scott yelled feeling just as angry as Rogue is.

"Oh my God. Sure. Right. I guess I either beat myself up or forced someone to beat me and all. That is bullshit. I know what happened and I wanted none of it. They think I liked being drugged up then beat and raped? Damn..." Jean cried out in anger and she felt pain inside. She started to cry again but worse than before. Scott grabbed her into his arms.

Rogue came closer and sat beside Jean and embraced her as well. She laid her head on top of Jean's. They better not say anythin' tomorrow or I am gonna fuck then up, I don't care what happens to me. I never saw Jean in so much pain. Strangely, I can feel it in me Rogue thought.

Apparently Jean's powers were a bit out of control because she could hear Rogue's thoughts. Jean moved a bit away from Scott and placed her arm around Rogue and then pulled her closer so that the three were in one big hug. Rogue knew Jean read her mind but she didn't say anything of it. She knew that it definately wasn't Jean's fault, especially this time.

So Scott and Rogue stayed there holding onto Jean. Rogue looked up and Scott glanced up at her then looked back down to Jean. He hated seeing her that way. He has seen her upset before but he thinks that this will be worse than ever. And he fears that she will totally lose it. He's afraid her powers will go out of control due to all the stress.

"Jean will you be okay with Rogue baby? I want to speak to the Professor. It's really important." Scott said.

"I don't know, maybe. Just don't take to long because if something happens I don't know if she'll be enough help." Jean said with her voice shaking.

"Baby it won't be long. That's why I want to see him. He needs to know that you may have another power surge or have a total break down. Maybe both. I'll only be gone for a little while. But incase something happens, Rogue, you absorb some of her powers to try and calm her and then try to mentally contact the Professor. Okay?" Scott said.

"Alright. I'll try if I need to." said Rogue.

"Thanks. You're a big help." Scott said and kissed Rogue on the top of her head.

Scott kissed Jean on the lips and then they pulled out of the embrace. Jean turned and grabbed ahold of Rogue so now they were in a tight embrace. Jean's still crying.

"It's okay sugar, I won't let anything happen to ya. I promise." Rogue whispered softly to Jean.

Scott ran from Jean's bed and raced out of the room to go and see Xavier.


	15. Begining the Big Day

Down with the Professor Scott had just explained how Jean was acting. They've been talking a lot about her current condition. Xavier said that he plans to be at the court hearing with Jean for support and to try to help her stay in control. If something goes wrong Scott would be there, too. Of course. And the Professor could get in Jean's head and communicate through telepathy. 

"So do you think she'll be okay Professor?" Scott asked nervously.

"I'm quite sure. But I can't be 100 certain that nothing will go wrong. Don't worry Scott, between you and me I think she'll be safe. And I'm sure that Storm, Logan and Hank will go to the hearing as well for extra support." Xavier explained in his usual calm manner.

"I sure hope you're right." said Scott.

"Jean's a very strong young woman. But sometimes I think she tries to be too strong. That may be why she all of a sudden just broke down." said Prof. X.

"Yes, it is. And I truly admire her strenth." Scott said feeling less nervous.

"As do I, she has such wonderful potential." said Xavier.

"Yeah, well I'm going to head back up to her room. Thanks a lot Prof." Scott said smiling.

"Your welcome. Oh and I will check in telepathically from time to time to make sure she's still okay. Hopefully she doesn't have another power surge. And if she does let's hope it's here and not at the court house tomorrow." said Xavier.

"Yeah, okay. I'm with you." Scott said then he left the room.

In no time he was upstairs and almost to Jean's room. He walked over to the room and entered. Jean was still fine and she was still holding on to Rogue. Scott looked at the expression on Rogue's face and she appeared to be somewhat annoyed with all of the hugging and all. Scott laughed softly but she heard him.

"What Scott? Why are ya lookin' at me like that and laughin'? Is somethin' in my hair? Is my makeup smeared?" Rogue said with an unhappy look on her face.

"No, your hair and makeup are fine. It's just that you look annoyed." Scott said.

"Well, I suppose I am just a little. I mean lately I've been all mushy and lovey dovey. Ya know that's not really me. But I kinda feel bad for her and now I'm makin' myself wanna puke with all this huggin' and all." Rogue said.

"So you're going to go back to your dark, gloomy leave- me -alone-self?" Scott said.

"Um, not completely, I'll still be dark and gloomy. Maybe I will wanna be alone but I'll still be Jean's friend. I just don't like all the goody-goody shit." Rogue said in her usual tone of voice.

"Okay, well you can start now if you want cause I'll be with Jean now for the rest of the evening." Scott said.

"Good. No offense Jean." Rogue said.

"None taken." Jean said sounding as quiet as a mouse. She was awake but kept dozing off.

Rogue left the room and Scott stayed. He went over and sat with Jean on her bed. He put his arm around her and laid back. She moved closer and laid her head on his chest. He loved to hold her and he knew she love it, too.

"I love you." he said.

"Mmm, I love you, too." she said back.

For hours all they did was lay in each other's arms. From time to time they'd exchange a few words and a kiss. But all they had on their mind was the trial and they both hoped that she wouldn't go crazy in front of the whole jury.

The day slipped by quick. It was already 9:00pm. Scott and Jean had just taken their showers and got ready for bed. Now they are in her room, again, and in one another's arms similar to how they were before. And Jean set her clock before they laid down so she could be up early enough to be prepared. At last, they fell asleep.

It's already Tuesday morning. All of the students were at school and etc. Jean and Scott have been awake for a while but wanted to wait until the place was quite for them to go downstairs and have breakfast. She didn't want to be in the commotion of everyone else. So they got out of bed and Scott helped Jean downstairs. They made breakfast and hung out downstairs in the kitchen for a while. Logan came in.

"Hey. How are ya feeling red?" he said.

"Better but I may go nuts. You know, my powers and everything else." she said.

"Let's hope not. If you want I can go to that hearing thing with you. Xavier mentioned it to me." he said.

"Yeah, I'd like you to." she said back.

"Alright then I'll tag along." he said.

"What about Storm and Beast? Damn, they teach." Scott said.

"Yeah, Xavier said he suggested that they may go but that them teaching the kids didn't come to his mind." Logan said.

"That's okay, I understand if they can't make it. It would be nice if they'd put teaching off to come but they don't have to." Jean said.

"Well, I have to go. I'll be back in plenty of time for your trial." Logan said as he walked past Jean and patted her on the head.

Shortly after he left Storm came into the kitchen. Jean and Scott were shocked to see her now because she was suppose to be teaching.

"Storm, what are you doing here?" Jean asked.

"I'm taking a break from teaching. I asked Hank if he'd take over. He said he would. He would have came along but decided he'd just give you good luck. He didn't want to leave the students here alone. They always end up getting into some kind of mischief. Plus I wouldn't miss this hearing for the world." Storm said and she walked over to Jean and kissed her on the forehead as a mother would kiss her child.

"Oh, I love you." Jean said and she hugged her.

Storm hugged her back with a smile and looked over to Scott who was seated right beside Jean. Storm was still looking at him.

"What. I love you, too." Scott said being silly.

"Yes, I love you both." she said with a laugh.

Now all there was to do is wait until 12:00pm. Since Jean has to see her lawyer before the trial to go over some things she figured they should leave around that time. Then they should arrive at his office by 12:30 or sooner. It wasn't too far, he was renting an office while he was in New York.

Jean and Scott went back upstairs to get dressed and get ready for the big day. Storm went upstairs as well because Scott still didn't want Jean to be left alone. So she stayed in Jean's room with her while Scott went to his to do what he had to get done.

"I'm still scared Storm." Jean said after she was dressed.

"Yes, of course. If you weren't you'd be strange. But I'm sure you'll be fine dear. You have us. And it's not like Duncan can deny what he did, there's plenty of evidence against him." Storm said in a comforting voice.

"Yeah, you're right. I'm glad you can go." said Jean.

"Me, too. It's just as important to me as it is to you. I was there in the begining and I'm not about to miss it now." Storm said smiling.

"I truly do love you Storm." Jean said then she hugged her tightly.

"Hmmm, yes, I know. I feel the same." Storm said returning the embrace.

In a short while Jean finished getting ready. She still had visable bruises on her face and body. They were much lighter in color but they indeed were still there. She prayed that the hearing would be a breeze and it was only a few hours or so away.


	16. Confronting Jean's Parents

Ten minutes have gone by and Scott finally showed up at Jean's room. So now they were both ready for the hearing, well physically at least. Storm said goodbye to them for now and left them alone. 

"Scott, I feel so damn terrified. When will this feeling leave? It's driving me crazy." Jean said with great concern.

"Well hon, I'm not sure when but probably when this is all done and over. And I'm scared, too. I hope they don't totally bash you." Scott said as he stood beside her and put his arm around her.

"It's been going so well so far but I know how courts can be. I have this deep feeling that something will go terribly wrong. I'm afraid that I will lose control completely if I'm harassed by another lawyer or so forth." she said with the same concerned look.

"Jean, don't worry so much. I'm sure you'll be fine. I'll be there. And so will the Professor, Storm and Logan." he said hoping to cheer her up but she only smiled a half smile.

"Yeah, but I'm still really scared." she said and she laid her head on his shoulder.

"Of course, it's only natural to be scared of the unknown. Oh and I just thought of something, in all of the commotion with this trial and all, you forgot to tell some very important people about your hearing and everything that happened. I'm sure they'd like to know what's going on now and even show up to support you." Scott said and Jean moved her head and looked up at him with a confused look. He placed his hands on either side of he face and kissed her.

"Huh, who did I not tell? Pretty much everyone here knows, maybe even everyone. Who Scott, I'm lost?" Jean said in confusion.

"Honey, think about it. You're smart, you should pick up on it." he said.

"Damn it! I forgot to call my parents. But there's only a few hours until the actual hearing. There's no way they'll fly here in time. Unless we pick them up." she said feeling stupid about forgetting them.

"I'm sure there'd be no problem in getting them. I will speak with the Professor. You give them a buzz. I'll be right back baby." he said and he kissed her again.

While Scott went downstairs Jean stayed upstairs and called her family. Her mother answered the phone. She was surprised to hear from Jean at this time of the day. No matter, she was happy to her from her daughter.

"Mom."

"Yes Jean."

"I have a lot to tell in so little time. But you need to come here and you need to have my dad and sister to come with you as soon as possible. It's important." Jean said.

"Is something wrong sweetheart?" said Mrs. Grey.

"Sort of. Well just get them and be waiting. We are coming to get you all." said Jean.

"Your father's at work and your sister's at school." Mrs. Grey said.

"Well dad can have the rest of the day off and so can my sister. I'm sure she'll be happy to leave school early." Jean stated.

"Yeah. Okay, I'll get ahold of them and we will be ready. But please explain everything on our way there. I am really confused." her mother said.

"Yes. Of course. And I'm so sorry I didn't tell you. It's just been so crazy. I didn't even think of it." Jean said feeling bad.

"That's okay honey. Then we'll see you in a while." said her mom.

"Yes mom. I love you." said Jean.

"I love you, too, Jean." Mrs. Grey said back.

Then they hung up. A few minutes after the phone conversation Scott was back upstairs. He looked sort of happy.

"Well we are going to Conneticut." he said.

"Great. I talked to my mom and she's gonna get dad from work and get my sister out of school. They'll be ready when we get there. I'm going to explain it all to them on our way back here." she said smiling.

"Good. Then let's head for the X-Jet." he said.

They made their way down and Xavier and Storm were already there. Xavier told Hank telepathically that they were going to pick up Jean's family and that they'd be home in no time. So Jean and Scott entered the Blackbird and got seated. They put their seatbelts on and they were off in a flash.

In a short while they all arrived to Jean's parent's house. Her mother was right about them being ready because as soon as they landed the jet her mom, dad and sister were leaving the house and heading over. Scott came out of the door and lead them in so that Jean wouldn't have to. The three sat in the seats close by Jean and got theirselves buckled in.

Jean began explaining everything that has happened in the past days and went on and on until she was finished.

"...and well that's what happened in a nutshell. I'm sooo upset with myself that I never told you until the last minute. I'm sooo stupid." Jean said.

"Don't beat yourself up dear. You had a lot on you mind, obviously." said Mr. Grey.

"Yeah, you are right but I shouldn't have forgot some of the most important people in my life." Jean said.

"It's truly fine, we know now and we are on our way to be with you on one of the most scariest days of your life. We are here for you no matter what sweetheart and you know that." said Mrs. Grey.

"Yes, and that's one thing we know you won't forget." said her father.

"Yeah. I'm glad you all could make it." said Jean with a smile.

"Definately, this means more to us than anything at this time in our life." her dad said.

"I bet you're happy that you got to get out of school." Jean said to her sister.

"Yep. But I'm sad that you went through so much pain. I hope they lock him up forever." her sister said.

"Well he'll most likely be placed in jail but probably not forever." Jean said feeling glad to have most of the people she cared dearly about together at one time.

Professor X and Storm just talked some amoung one another and the others talked amoung themselves. Jean felt much more secure knowing that she now had Scott, the Professor, Storm,Logan, her mom, her dad and sister with her for her trial.

Back at the institute Logan came back. He couldn't find the Prof. or anyone. Then he remember that Beast should be teaching so he went to the classroom. The door was partly open so he opened it more and slowly walked in.

"Hank, where's everyone else? I can't find the Professor or anything." Logan said puzzled.

"They left but will be back. Jean called her folks and the Professor, along with Storm, Jean and Scott went to Conneticut to retrieve them. They'll be at the hearing as well." Hank explained carefully trying not to leave anything out.

"Oh, I thought they forgot about me." Logan said in attempt to make a joke.

"No, they just figured that would be the quickest way. If they would have tried to board a plane it would probably take a while." Hank explained once more.

"Yeah. Very true. Well I'll let you get back to teaching these little kids." Logan said.

"Okay." said Hank.

"Hey! We're not little kids." said Jubilee.

"Well ya are to me." said Logan.

"Nuh uh. I'm 15." said Bobby.

"Well to me you are all kids, got a problem with it bub?" said Logan gruffly.

"Oh no, no problem." said Jubilee. Logan left the room. "Grouch." she finished after he left.

Hank laughed. "Okay young ladies and young men, let's get back to the lesson."

With that Hank went back to his lesson and Logan went into the rec room He decided he'd just hang there until the others returned.


	17. Breaking Down

In about a half hour Logan left the rec room and went to the kitchen. A few minutes or so afterwards he heard voices coming from the livingroom area. He left the kitchen because he realized that it was Xavier and the others. 

"Hi everyone. About time Chuck." Logan said.

"Well we went to pick up Jean's family, as you can see." said the Professor.

"Yeah, Beast told me. I came back and you all were gone. I went to see him and see if he knew where ya were." Logan said walking towards them.

"I hope you're prepared for the trial. There's only 30 minutes until we leave to meet with Jean's lawyer." Professor X said.

"I'm ready when you are." said Logan.

"Good. We will all meet here in 20 minutes so we can all be to the X-Van in time. See you all then." said the Professor and then he rolled off in his wheelchair.

Logan went back to the kitchen and Storm followed behind him. Scott and Jean lead her family to the livingroom and they all took a seat.

"Well it's almost time for me to sit in front of a bunch of strangers and spill my guts." Jean said with slight sarcasm.

"You'll be fine. You know, the way you said that you almost sounded like Rogue." Scott said with a smile.

"Oh no. I kind of did. Oh well." Jean said smiling back and then she looked at her mom and dad. "Thanks again for dropping everything on such a short notice. You don't know how much this means to me."

"You're welcome, and like we said before, there's no way we'd miss this." Mrs. Grey said.

"You got it. This is very important to you and we want to be a part of it. Plus I hope to see that Duncan jerk cuffed and taken to jail. He better not lie." said Mr. Grey.

"Oh, I really don't think he will. There's plenty of evidence. There's no way he'll lie." Jean said.

"Yeah, Detective Anita Snyder tape recorded him during a conversation they had and he completely gave it away. What a stupid idiot." Scott said.

"Well then, his stupidity will be of use to us. This case should be no problem to win." said Mr. Grey.

"Hopefully." Jean said. "It depends on how the judge reacts to me being a mutant."

"Don't worry about it now. Just try to relax the best you can and we'll take whatever they throw." said Scott.

They went on with their talking. Jean's in a lot of doubt and they all keep trying to convince her to think about a good outcome. But all anyone can do is hope and pray that something good will happen.

The Professor, Storm and Logan now entered the room. The other five met up with them and they were all heading out of the mansion. It was now time to meet with Mitchell Snyder so Jean could have some warming up for what was to come in the hearing. Hopefully that would help her some but she'll still be in front of lots of people she doesn't know who may hate mutants with a passion beyond her understanding.

On the ride to Mr. Snyder's office there wasn't much conversation. Storm drove and Xavier sat in the passenger set beside her. The others were seated towards the back, of course, where else would they be sitting. Anyway Jean was really quiet. All she was doing is thinking about the trial. She was still worried that something would go wrong and usually her predictions are true. Rather it was another power surge, which shouldn't occur with having Scott and the Professor there but is possible, or just a mental breakdown. Who knows she thought.

Scott saw the scared, worried expression upon her face. "Honey, are you gonna be okay?"

"I hope. I'm just thinking. I should be fine. I have a lot of support. There's no reason that I shouldn't win." Jean stated.

"Yes, so don't worry. We're all here for you." Scott said.

That's not what I'm worried about. Something is gonna happen. I just know it. I sure hope you all can help me with that. I don't know what or when but it will occur. I'm having strong feelings. Jean thought with hidden fear.

So finally they were at their destination. Since there were so many people and probably not enough room for them in Mr. Snyder's office Scott and Xavier were the only two who went with Jean inside the building. She did want to have her parents but decided it would be best to have the two people who could help her if she would happen to snap. Her parents understood and remained in the van with Logan, Storm and their other daughter.

Soon the three were on their way to the lawyer's office. And in a matter of minutes they arrived. His door was open and he motioned for them to come in.

"Hello Ms. Grey, Mr. Summers and Mr. Xavier. So here's the big day. I sure hope you're ready." he said.

"Yes, well kind of. I'm just really scared, which I know is normal as everyone else says." said Jean.

"Yes, it is. So they are right." said Mitchell.

"And now I have extra support. I have most of my family. My biological family is waiting outside in the van and I have Scott and the Professor. Plus Ororo and Logan." Jean said and she knew she was very lucky to have such wonderful people in her life. They were all her family.

"So Ms. Grey, you're pretty well set. Now all I want to do is go over what may come in the hearing. What I will ask you and what Mr. Mathews' lawyer will probably ask. But I am quite certain that we will win this case. Because, as you know, we have outstanding evidence. Police reports, photographs, a tape with his own words. I think this will go smooth." Mitchell said.

"Yes, and I have a wonderful lawyer working with me. I don't know why I'm worried about losing." Jean said with a big smile. That's not the biggest thing I'm worried about she thought.

Xavier and Scott sat by her as Mr. Snyder went through a practice hearing with her. She was doing okay but when he questioned her as the other lawyer may have she became irritated.

"Are you okay Jean. I'm sorry but that's probably what you'll get and most likely it'll be much worse." he said realizing that this hearing may indeed be very hard on her. Even with the evidence there's the fact that she's a mutant and the other lawyer will probably use that against her.

"I should be okay. Go on. I have to stay strong. I must go through with this until it's over. Aahhh! Uh!" Jean said then moaned in pain.

"Oh my God, what's wrong?!" Scott yelled and he rushed to her side.

"My head...uh...help!" she moaned and her eyes went shut.

Mitchell was in shock. He had no idea what was happening. Scott entered Jean's mind and tried to connect. He was having some trouble.

"What's wrong with her Xavier? Will she be okay?" said Mr. Snyder.

"Well, she may be having a power surge. Her powers go out of control and it could be very dangerous, as it has been before. But let's hope that Scott can calm her. If not then I'll do my best to." the Professor explained.

"I can't, she won't let me in!" Scott said in panic.

"Here let me try. I'm stronger so maybe I can connect with her mind." Xavier said.

Professor X placed his hands on Jean's head on either side and closed his eyes. He went inside her mind but had a great deal of trouble trying to. Nevertheless, he made it in.

Jean, can you hear me? Jean.

Professor, help me! I can't control it. Aah.

I will help, just hang on. That's what I am attempting to do now. Please stay as calm as you can. I won't let anything happen toyou.

Uh, Professor, my head hurts so bad.

Yes, I know.

Professor Xavier continued to stay locked to Jean's mind. Within about 5 to 10 minutes he broke his connection and she opened her eyes. The Professor smiled and so did Scott and Mitchell.

"Wow. That was scary." said Mr. Snyder.

"Yes, and it could happen again. But may be much worse. It usually starts with little attacks and then she completely loses it." Scott said.

"Let's hope not." said Mitchell.

They went back to the discussion. Mitchell went over more with Jean and she appeared to be okay now. But she still had that feeling of something happening. Something beyond her control. Something very dark and creepy.


	18. The Court House

Xavier, Scott and Jean were still at Mr. Mitchell Snyder's office but they will soon have to depart and head to the court house. So far Jean has been under control. She hasn't had anymore problems with her powers since the Professor entered her mind and eased the tension. So hopefully everything will go wonderfully good. Although Jean still is thinking that something will happen but maybe it's just all of the stress because stress can do terrible things. Time will be the only thing that will unravel whatever she thinks will or may happen. 

"So Ms. Grey, are you ready for this?" said Mitchell.

"Yeah but I just wish it was already over. I hope I don't freak out and lose control again. I'm glad that little episode happened here, maybe nothing will go wrong with my powers at the trial." Jean said feeling very paranoid.

"As we all do." said the Professor.

"Yes you speak for everyone." said Scott and Mitchell just shook his head in agreement.

"Well, I guess we should be on our way. I'll see you three and the other's who'll be on the supporting team in a little bit." Mitchell said and he shook all of their hands.

They all exited the room and then finally left the building. Mitchell went to his car and the others headed back to the X-Van. There wasn't very much time until the hearing but the court house wasn't too far from the building they departed from.

Now Jean and her supporters were all moving off to attend the hearing that they all dreaded but knew they had to go through with it. They're all proud to be helping someone they love so dearly. She would do just the same for any of them.

"Jean, I only have a bit of advice to tell you." said Xavier.

"Yeah, and what's that." Jean asked.

The Professor turned his head slightly so he could see Jean. "Well it's just that you must try to stay as calm as you can, and we'll all be there to help. If you're not calm it may cause confusion and cause the case to take longer, and I'm sure you'd like to get it over as quick as possible. But back to the main point, be calm and incase it will upset you do not look at Mr. Mathews at any point. You don't have to look at him. Just look at the person who is questioning you. Understand?"

"Yes Professor, I do. You are completely right because looking at him would only make me more stressed out. He could give me looks that could kill. Things like that. I've seen many cases on TV. I'll try my very best to stay calm and not even give one little glance at that jerk." Jean said.

"Great. I'm almost possitive you'll be fine." said Xavier.

"Yes and if something does get a bit out of my league I know that between you and Scott I can overcome it." Jean said and looked from the Professor to Scott and kissed Scott on the lips softly.

"Yes of course." said Professor X.

"And Jean, if you feel anything strange just contact me or the Professor telepathically and we'll try to stop whatever it is from happening." said Scott.

"Great idea Scott." said Xavier. "Yes, contact him first since you two have a special psychic bound and if it fails you can contact me. And I most likely will be able to help, as I've done before."

"I love you all." Jean said smiling and glancing around the van at everyone. Storm quickly glanced in the rear view mirror at Jean and smiled.

At this time they had entered the parking lot to the court house. Storm drove through and found a place to park. She pulled in and switched the van into park mode.

"We are here everybody. Let's pray this goes well." said Storm, and everyone agreed, of course.

They all got out of the van and closed the doors and etc. They then headed toward the building and entered it. They went to a window and were directed to the specific court room they'd be attending court at. When they arrived in the room Jean looked around and noticed that Duncan was already there, along with his parents and what appeared to be a few other family members. He was seated in a wheelchair because he was still too injured to walk and they were seated behind a wooden rail directly behind where he sat with his lawyer. A little part of Jean felt somewhat bad for the creep but the rest of her felt nothing. He deserved what he got and it was a long time coming. _Why do I feel a slight bit of sympathy for that asshole? Jean thought._ But she's not a cruel person so that's probably why. Mitchell Snyder was also there. He was seated on his side at the table where he and Jean were to sit.

"Jean remember what the Professor said, just pretend you don't even see him. Even when he's at the stand, listen but don't stress too much. You're under enough pressure already baby." Scott said as they walked to where they were to sit.

Scott and the others sat in the seats closest to Jean, right behind a wooden rail. Jean walked through the gate on the wooden rail and seated herself beside her lawyer. She felt shaky and she felt like her whole body was trembling and at any given second would just slip and fall to the floor.

"Are you okay Ms. Grey? Here's some water, it may help ease you some." said Mitchell as he picked up a big container filled with water and filled a glass a little over half way.

"I should be. Thank you very much." Jean said and she kindly grabbed hold of the glass and began to drink. She pretty much gulped the entire contents within a few seconds.

"Wow, thirsty?" her lawyer joked.

"Yeah, I suppose so." she said smiling and a small giggle escaped from her throat.

She picked up the container and poured more water for herself but just halfway. She didn't drink anymore yet. She figured she'd save it and that she should leave some for Mitchell.

Just now the judge entered the court room. Jean looked at the judge. _A woman, that's nice. she thought._ The female judge made her way to her seat. She sat down and began to speak calmly.

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. I'm going to try my best to make this trial quick and to the point. I'm a fair person and I'm certainly not prejudice. So the fact that mutants are attending this hearing doesn't bother me one bit. I will honest in saying that I am a little cautious with them because I don't know much about them, aside what the news says and that's not always the truth. But, nevertheless, I've never had any mutant problems. Anyway, my name is Judge Shellayna Miller and let's get this hearing started." the judge said.

Mitchell and Jean smiled at each other. They were glad that the judge wasn't hard on mutants. And Jean's support team was just as glad and they smiled amoung each other. On the other hand, Duncan and his group didn't look as happy when the judge said she had no problem with mutants. So Jean's most likely going to win. She felt so much better knowing that Judge Miller was going to be fair to both her and Duncan. _Thank goodness she thought._

**Stay tuned. More to come hopefully very soon. There may be a slight delay due to Christmas and all. But be patient, I'll write more as soon as possilbe:) Have a wonderful Holiday:)**


	19. The Legal Sentence

As the judge got herself prepared to start the actual trial Jean and Mitchell talked to one another. They truly had feelings that this trial wouldn't be that bad. Jean's nerves calmed down very much and she felt she would be completely fine. The only thing that may cause her to freak out now may be when Duncan takes his stand. She knows he can't lie about what he did to her but he can say that she forced him by controlling his mind. Or something of the sort. 

"You feel better Ms. Grey?" said Mr. Snyder.

"Yes, much better." Jean said back.

"Good, so do I. I think we'll be just fine." he said.

Jean looked back behind her to see Scott. He was just staring at her. She smiled, he seemed to stare at her a lot. She then spoke to him telepathically.

_Scott, I think I'll be okay. I don't feel on the edge like I did before._

_That's wonderful hon. But just remember, if you do end up feeling stressed out contact me or the Professor._

_Yes, of course._

Just then the judge began to speak. The hearing was ready to take progress. Jean felt better but she started to feel a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. _The sooner, the better_ she thought.

"Let's get this case rolling. I am going to call the complainant, Ms. Jean Grey, to the stand first." said Judge Shellayna Miller.

Jean stood up and walked ahead towards the stand. She stepped inside the booth and stood. She glanced out at Scott and her other supporters and then, for some odd reason, over at Duncan. He was staring at her with an evil glare. She quickly moved her eyes from him as she remembered that Scott told her to avoid him as much as possible.

"Ms. Grey, do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth within this legal court room?" said the judge.

"I do." Jean said as she held up her right hand.

"Alright, you may be seated. Mr. Snyder, would you please bring Ms. Grey's papers and all other evidence up to me?" said Judge Miller.

"Yes." Mr. Snyder said as he gathered all of the evidence and carried it to the judge.

"Thank you." said Judge Miller.

The judge read over the written reports by the police department and some things written down by Mr. Snyder. Then she read over the medical reports from both the institute and the police department. They both pretty much said the same thing only in slightly different wording. Last but not least, she glanced through the photographs taken at the institute's informatory and the ones taken at the police station. She shook her head in disbelief, although she's dealed with many abuse trials so she wasn't too overwhelmed.

"Well Ms. Grey, there's no doubt that you were abused. But do you have any proof that the defendant, Mr. Mathews, had raped you? The reports say you were both beaten and raped. I can see that you were beaten." said Judge Miller.

"Yes, I do, well my lawyer does." Jean said and she looked at Mitchell.

"Oh, sorry, I have a cassette tape in my briefcase that has a conversation between Mr. Mathews and Detective Anita Snyder. He confessed that he had violated Ms. Grey." said Mr. Snyder as he opened up his briefcase and gathered up the tape along with a tape player. He then brought it over to the judge and placed the tape into the player.

"That's okay Mr. Snyder. Could you please play the tape?" said the judge. "Most of the time we have to question a lot before hand but since you have all the evidence this will definately go quick." she added as Mitchell got the tape ready.

Mr. Snyder pushed play and the judge along with everyone else in the court room heard the conversation between Detective Snyder and Duncan Mathews. Duncan's lawyer looked over to him and the two whispered to each other. They both had the look of fear because it was quite possible that they were going to crash and burn.

As the tape continued to play Jean's supporters were appearing to be very excited. They were talking quietly and glancing over to Duncan who was getting very upset. He looked very angry. Apparently he didn't think that the tape would be used, how very stupid of him to even think that. What a complete loser and disgrace to all living beings.

Within minutes the tape was finished. Mr. Snyder pushed stop and picked up the player and headed back to his table.

"Thank you Mr. Snyder. Well, Ms. Grey, so far you're off to a great start. You have all you need to win this case. All I have to do is have your lawyer and Mr. Mathews' lawyer ask a few questions about your attack. Then I'll need to bring Mr. Mathews to the stand for some questioning. But it's quite clear from this excellent evidence that he is indeed guilty. And not to mention, you still have some visible bruises on you face." said the judge. "So let's move on. Mr. Snyder, may you step up and ask your client some questions?"

"Yes." Mitchell said and he stood up and walked towards the stand where Jean was seated. "Okay...Ms. Grey, is it true that the defendant, Mr. Duncan Mathews, physically abused you between, approximately, 4:15pm and 5:00pm last Friday?"

"Yes, it's true." Jean said.

"And is it true that Mr. Mathews had injected some kind of stimulant into your bloodstream to weaken you?" Mr. Snyder questioned.

"Yes, it is." Jean answered.

"Okay, and the defendant stated while talking with Detective Snyder that he had abused you before while you and he were dating. Is that true?" asked Mr. Mathews and he glanced over to Duncan and his lawyer then back to Jean.

"Yes, it is true as well." Jean said.

"Alright, would you mind telling the court what he did to you, just to give us a rough picture, but you don't have to if you feel uncomfortable." said Mr. Snyder.

"Sure, I can put it in a nutshell. It all started back when he and I were in 11th grade. Everything was great at first and then all of sudden it just went completely out of proportion. He got so angry when I refused to have sex with him and that would often lead to a slap across the face or verbal abuse. And even before all of that he was very possessive over me..." Jean explained...

...1st Flashback in Jean's POV...

"Why are you always hanging around that Summers guy? You're always all over him." said Duncan as he and I were seated in his car.

"Well Scott is my best friend. And I'm not all over him. Come on Duncan." I said.

"I see how you look at him and how he looks at you." he said looking angry.

"Well sorry. I won't look at him anymore then." I said feeling very irritated.

"Don't get smart with me bitch! I just don't think you should be around him more than you're around me. I mean, I am your boyfriend." he said.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean you can tell me who to hang out with and who to look at and so on. You always have your eyes glued on other girls and I see you putting your arms around them all the time. So what's the difference? Except that I only do that to one person. And so what." I said as I glared at him.

"I'm just goofing around. There's more to you and Scott." he said with a sinister look.

"What?! You are fool of shit Duncan. Scott is only my best friend and no one, not even you, is gonna tear us apart. He's one of the only people who understands me. He sure knows me. You don't even know me as well as he does. And you don't even want to try to know me. Sometimes I think you're just a creep and that you're only with me hoping that I'll be an easy score. I don't like being told what to do, especially from you." I said getting very frustrated and my face was probably as red as my hair.

"Don't get mouthy bitch. Just shut the hell up. I don't wanna hear anymore about you and that Summers freak." Duncan said.

"Stop calling me names! And he isn't a freak! So you shut the hell up! I'm so sick of you!" I yelled.

Duncan reached out and back handed me very hard. I just looked at him in shock. I didn't say another word for the rest of the night until he took me home. And even then I only said, "Goodnight, see you later." and I went in through the huge iron gate and then headed towards the door and entered my home.

...End of 1st Flashback...

"...that's pretty much when we started to go downhill. And it only got worse. But most of the abuse then was only verbal. No and then he'd hit me. But within no time it was getting very difficult. He got to where he was so hooked on having sex with me that he began to threaten me in order to get it 'cause otherwise I'd never have done anything of that sort to him. And it was easy for him to ruin my life since I was popular in school. So he threatened that if I didn't do it with him he'd spread terrible rumors around the school and make my life a living hell. It scared me and I caved in to his every demand. Finally I couldn't take it and I told him to say whatever he wants. I was sick of being his sex slave. And then he just got out of control. Shortly after all of that he ended up drugging me. I was unaware of it. I mean, we went on a date that night and everything was great. I thought that maybe he was over this craziness, but it was only a bluff. We went to his place and listened to music and just hung together. His parents were out of town for the weekend so we were there alone. And that was stupid on my half to be there alone with him but I was kinda afraid to say no to going to his place, I didn't want to mess up for he seemed to be so kind that evening. Anyway..." Jean explained on and on...

...2nd Flashback also in Jean's POV...

"So Jean, would you like a drink? You can pick whatever you like. I'll be back." Duncan said and then he headed towards the stairs.

"Thanks." I said before he began to head upstairs.

"Yeah babe, no problem." he said then he was gone for a bit.

I got a glass out of the cupboard and went to the fridge. The I got out a big bottle of apple juice and poured my glass almost to the top. I put the juice away and began to drink. I was about finished with my drink when Duncan came back downstairs and into the kitchen.

"I see you found something and that you were quite thirsty." he said and then he kissed me on the lips. I kissed him back. It went on for a few minutes.

I finished my juice and we went into the livingroom. We sat together on the couch and talked. He had his arm around me and I had mine around him. Everything was wonderful until all of a sudden out of nowhere I feel a strange pain in my right arm. He injected me with something. I began to feel weak. Finally, he had his way. What a jerk.

...End of 2nd Flashback...

"...so that's what happened. He was always being sneaky and I never trusted him again. I wouldn't eat or drink anything at his place fearing he'd drug me that way. And I wouldn't sit with him unless I was very cautious to his every move. By this time it was closer to our end. I was fed up with him. I was planning on dumping him for a while but was afraid of him and what he may say to other people. But then all of the stuff with mutants was in the open and he made a remark about me using my powers for bad reasons and it was then that I broke it off. Thank goodness." Jean finished.

"Okay, nicely explained Ms. Grey. Is that all about your past you'd like to share?" said Mr. Snyder.

"Well, it's all I remember." Jean said.

"Alright, then I will leave you with two more questions, were you able to use your powers when he drugged you and why didn't you ever use your telepathy on him to control his mind and stop him?" he asked.

"No, I was totally weakened. I couldn't even use my powers. And um, I didn't think to use my powers to alter his mind. It just all happened too fast and I don't know. I can't remember why I never, uh..." she stated and began to feel some pressure.

"That's okay Ms. Grey. You don't have to continue. That's all I have to ask my client Judge Miller." he said then he went back and took a seat.

_Are you okay Jean?_ Scott asked telepathically.

_I think I should be, it's just I've tried to block this all out. But I should be fine hon._ Jean said back.

Soon the judge began to speak again. She was going to have Duncan's lawyer ask Jean some questions now. Jean knew that he would be a jerk, most likely. But there's not much for him to go on. Like the judge said, it's clear that Duncan is guilty.

"Does any one out of Ms. Grey's support team have anything to say on her behalf before I continue? If so, speak up now." said Judge Shellayna Miller.

"Yes, I'd just like to say that when Jean was dating Duncan, at times, she seemed so different. She was very nervous a lot. And when she and I would hang out together, say at a movie or just somewhere public, she was always paraniod. She said she didn't want Duncan seeing her. I don't know if that helps but that's all I know. Except for what she's already told you about him abusing her. And even I just recently was acknowledged with that. So I guess that's all Judge Miller." said Scott, he only stood up where he was to speak and when he finished he sat back down.

"Okay, thank you Mr. Summers. Then I suppose I will move on with this trial. Would Mr. Mallory please step forward and questioned the complainant, Ms. Grey?" said Judge Miller.

With that Duncan's lawyer stood up and headed towards Jean. He didn't look very good. He looked as though his questions would be pointless and that anything beyond would be as well.

"Good afternoon Ms. Jean Grey." he said and then began his questioning. "So, I really don't know much of what to ask you. But you stated when Mr. Mitchell Snyder questioned you that you were unable to use your powers to defend yourself when my client, Mr. Duncan Mathews, drugged you. And that all the other times you didn't think to use them. Is that possitively true?"

"Yes Mr. Mallory, that's true." Jean said.

"You didn't have one second to think of use your telepathy to alter his mind? Not one second?" he asked.

"Well perhaps, but I was kinda flustered. I didn't really think to..." Jean began and he cut her off.

"Just say yes or no." he said.

"But..." she started.

"Yes or no." he said again.

"No." she said feeling very nervous.

"Okay. I have no more to say." Duncan's lawyer said and then he turned and went to his and Duncan's table and sat down.

"If there's no more questioning for Ms. Grey then she can go to her seat and Mr. Mathews can come up to the stand." said the judge.

No one had any further questions for Jean or anything so she went back to her seat and Duncan went to the stand. Jean was kind of shaking and Mitchell poured more water for her. She thanked him and sipped at it.

When Duncan was situated he pledged to tell the truth just as Jean had done. But since he was in a wheelchair he couldn't stand so he had to pledge while sitting. Obviously. His lawyer was the first to ask him questions.

Mr. Mallory walked up to the stand in front of Duncan. "Alright, did you honestly abuse Ms. Grey in any way?"

"Yes, but she deserved every bit of it." Duncan said, of course his statement isn't going to help him.

"No one deserves to be abused in any way!!!" Scott jumped up and yelled. Storm grabbed his arm and motioned him to be seated.

"Order! No outbursts. If you have something to say please wait until the questioning is over with. Go on." said the judge.

Jean was getting very uptight. While Duncan was being questioned Scott spoke to Jean telepathically to ease her some.

"To be honest myself, I really don't know what else to ask my client. So that'll be all." said Duncan's lawyer and then he went to his seat.

"Well then, Mr. Snyder, would you step up?" said Judge Miller.

"Sure." he said and headed to where Duncan was. "I don't have a whole lot to ask either. But why would you say that she deserved the abuse you gave her?"

"Because she did. She's a stuck up little bitch and a mutant freak." said Duncan with an evil look upon his face.

"Objection! There will be no name calling in this court room. You may continue Mr. Snyder." said the judge.

"Um, I totally disagree with you that she deserved it. No one does. And I'm sure that anyone in this court room would agree. What if it was you daughter who was mentally and physically abused by someone? How would you feel? And so what if Jean's a mutant she is a person. And if your child was a mutant, would you abandon him or her? Think about it. That is all I have to say Judge Miller." said Mitchell and walked back to sit with Jean.

"Thank you. Does anyone have anything to say? Once again, if so then speak up now." said the judge. Nobody said a thing. "Okay, I will make my decision soon. I'll grant a 15 minute break and then court will be back in session and I'll give out the sentence and so forth." Judge Miller spoke and then pounded the hammer down.

The judge left the room and everyone else remained and talked. Duncan went back to his table. Jean told Mitchell that she was going to go behind the wooden gate to see her family and friends. He stayed at the table and went through some things in his briefcase. She went to see everyone who supported her. She hugged all of her friends and then her parents and sister. She hugged Scott for the longest time though and then they kissed quickly, considering they were in a legal atmostphere and there were tons of people there.

"Scott I have to use the bathroom. So I'll be back." Jean said.

Scott looked around and saw that Duncan, in his wheelchair, was still at his table. "Okay baby. But do you care if I walk with you? Incase something happens, you never know."

"I don't care. Why would I?" Jean said smiling and feeling safer knowing he'll be at her side.

"Just making sure." Scott said smiling back.

Jean told the others where she was going so they knew. So her and Scott went off. And they were back to the court room in no time. Pretty much perfect timing because shortly after they got back the judge was entering the room. Jean kissed Scott and then headed back to sit with her lawyer.

Judge Shellayna Miller walked back to the front of the room and sat back down. Everyone saw she was ready to continue so they quieted down and gave her their complete attention. Each lawyer brought up papers from the jury which stated guilty or not guilty. The judge looked at them and only two people put not guilty, how nice.

"Well Ms. Grey, it looks like you and your group are going to be very happy. The defendant, Mr. Duncan Mathews, is charged guilty of physical and sexual abuse on the complainant, Ms. Jean Grey, and there forth is sentenced to six months in the Bayville Prison. He is denied bail and even when he is released he will have a retraining order. If he sees her, he must keep his distance. And if there is any report that he is bothering Ms. Grey he will be put on a warrant for arrest and most likey be imprisoned once again. That is all. Good luck Ms. Grey. I hope you recover from all of this. And Mr. Mathews, I hope this teaches you a lesson." said Judge Miller.

"Thank you." Jean said.

The trial was over. And Jean was glad of that. Along with everyone else on her side. She hugged her lawyer and then said goodbye. She then met with her supporters and they were all off to celebrate. Although, they figured they'd wait until the other students were home to share the wonderful news.

Duncan was furious but knew that he'd probably lose anyway. He just hoped they'd hate mutants and not be fair. But it looked like what Mr. Mitchell Snyder said while questioning Duncan sunk in to everyone, well mostly everyone anyway.

To be concluded...


	20. Getting Back to Normal

Now Duncan will be doing time for what he did to Jean. And he knows that when he gets out he had better keep his distance from her. With this on Jean's mind she felt so much better. And knowing that the trial is over also helps a lot. But she will have to return to school soon and she is a bit nervous about that. She doesn't have to worry about Duncan but she knows people are already talking about her, it's obvious. Plus he had a lot of friends. They're probably really upset that he is behind bars and he'll be finishing high school in prison. There's not much time left for school though, only a few months. Jean is excited for it to be over but also scared. It's her last year and all. Then she'll most likely be off to college...which she dreads because her and Scott will be apart for a lot of the time. Although she knows they'll make it through anything. 

Everyone was now back at the institute. Jean's parents and sister decided to spend the night at the mansion instead of rushing home. They figured they'd go back the next morning the same way they came. The Professor had no problem with returning them either. Of course not.

"You three can stay in a guest room. I'll show you two to one and you to another." said Xavier.

"Um, Professor. My sister can just stay with me tonight if she wants. I mean, we'd have to share my bed, but it's big enough." Jean suggested.

"That's fine if she wants to." said the Professor.

"Sure. I'll stay in Jean's room." her sister said sounding very excited.

"Good." Jean said and she walked over to her parents and hugged and kissed them. Then Jean and her sister both headed upstairs.

"Okay. I'll show you to your room." Professor X said and the three were on their way.

Everyone still has to celebrate on Jean winning her case. They were all just hanging around. The only three they are waiting on is Kurt, Rogue and Kitty. They should have been home an hour ago. Jean's parents and sister are happy with their sleeping arrangements for the night and now they are downstairs with the others. So everyone at the institute is gathered in the livingroom.

Ten minutes later the front door opens. First Rogue comes in then she's followed by Kurt and Kitty who are talking. Rogue is really pissed and the other two are quite upset as well. Jean walked over towards the three and stood as Kurt shut the door.

"So, what was keeping you guys?" Jean asked.

Rogue said nothing, she just stood there and crossed her arms and stared at the floor. Kurt and Kitty looked at each other and whispered. Finally Kurt spoke up. "We were in detention."

"What! All three of you?" Jean asked shocked, especially that Kurt and Kitty were serving detention.

"Like yeah. This morning this stupid girl started saying stuff and we were all together in the hall talking." Kitty said.

"What else? That couldn't have gotten you all in trouble." said Scott as he walked over to investigate. The Professor just remained in the livingroom, he figured Scott would be enough pressure for the three. Maybe more than they could handle.

"Like, don't get an attitude." said Kitty. Kurt just looked at her.

"I am not getting an attitude. I just would like to know what happened." Scott said.

"Take it easy Scott." said Jean.

"I am." he said.

"OKay then I'll go back in the room and let you handle it hon." she said and kissed him.

"Alright, is someone going to tell me what the hell happened?" Scott said getting impatient.

Finally Rogue spoke. "Don't take it all out on them, it was mostly my fault. That stupid bitch just started sayin' shit and I snapped. They just had my back, that's all." Rogue started explaining and before she could start her next sentence she was cut off.

"Okay, so what gave you detention?" he said even more impatient.

"Dude, chill." said Kurt.

"Yeah, like don't have cow." Kitty added.

"I'm trying to be calm, I just want to know. You already were punished and this girl probably deserved whatever you did to her. She was obviously teasing you or something." said Scott.

"Yeah, she was. And we couldn't take her shit. If I can finish I'll explain what happened next." Rogue said sarcastically.

"Sure, go on, I'm sorry." Scott apologized.

"I guess it's fine. Alright, well she was talkin' about us and Jean and I just couldn't take anymore. I turned around and faced her. I kinda got in her face. I was yellin' at her and she was yellin' back. Kurt and Kitty just watched for a while 'til this girl shoved me against a locker and tried to hit me in the face. That's when they grabbed her and held her against the wall tryin' to make her calm down. I obviously wasn't calmin' down myself though. I walked in front of her and slapped her. She called me a creepy goth freak and a bitch so I punched her in the mouth causin' it to bleed, she's damn lucky that I didn't just take off my glove and drain the life outta her but I'm not a killer. Anyway, some other students gathered around in the hall and by this time Principal Kelly comes down the hall and sees Kitty and Kurt holding her and me in front of her. He sees her mouth and the blood. He sends her to the nurse and we go to his office to be punished. He never even asked who started, he just assumed we did cause we're "mutant menices". So we were assigned detention for this afternoon and we attended. That's all." Rogue said feeling very pissed still.

"Okay. Just try not to do anything like that again cause no matter what mutants will be the ones in trouble." said Scott.

"Yeah." said Rogue.

"Do you know who she is?" Jean said as she made her way back to where they were.

"Uh yeah, it was your ex-friend, Taryn." said Rogue.

"Definately ex-friend. She really wasn't my friend or she would still be." Jean said sadly.

"Cheer up. Let's share the news." said Scott as he placed his arm around Jean.

"Oh yes." Jean said feeling excited again. "I won my case and Duncan is serving 6 months in jail. And when he is out he'll have a restraining order."

"That's great." Kitty said and she hugged Jean.

"Way to go." said Kurt.

"He should of been locked up longer but I'm happy for ya sugar." Rogue said with a smile, something she should do more.

"So are we having a party?" said Kitty.

At this time the Professor came over. "Yes Kitty, this event deserves a party."

"Woo-hoo!" Kitty yelled and she grabbed Kurt by the arm and began playfully dancing with him.

"I guess we should get it started." said Storm as she headed towards the kitchen.

Everyone made their way out to the kitchen with behind her. Since everyone was now there it all could start. So there was all kinds of food and drinks. All the normal things for a party, a party for minor that is.

They all ate and talked. It was always nice when they could all gather and share things with each other. It was amazing that even Rogue was with them. She normally stayed up in her room. She didn't talk much but everyone thought it was great that she was joining them. Jean was very happy of that because of their recent closeness.

Jean was staring at Rogue with a small smile and thinking that their closer friendship was much like a miracle. Rogue noticed her gaze and a weird look came over her face.

"What. Why are ya starin' at me?" Rogue said and then everyone's attention was on her.

"I was just thinking how amazing you are. I mean, all that time I thought you truly hated me. And now we're like, well almost like, best friends." Jean said.

"Uh Jean, don't push it. I was there when ya needed me 'cause I know you'd do the same for me. But all that mushiness was drivin' me crazy. So don't get mushy." Rogue said back but she wasn't harsh in her wording.

"I won't. I guess it was too lovey dovey for you." said Jean.

"Uh yeah." said Rogue.

After those words everyone was back to their talking. And Rogue and Jean kept on with their conversation. It was just a wonderful moment.

_This story's not completely concluded. I've decided to add one more chapter. It may be a bit graphic, just to let you know. But it's all good. I'm sorry that it's been taking me so long to post these chapters. And thank you for your patience:)_


	21. Back to School

Many hours had passed and the party was now over. It was getting late, so pretty much everyone was in their bedroom, except Scott who was in Jean's room. He hasn't stayed in his room for a while now but he sure didn't miss sleeping alone. And Jean definately enjoyed him spending the nights with her. He always held her so close and tight making her feel safe and warm. That is exactly how they are right now, in each other's arms and ready to call it a night. 

"Scott." Jean said softly.

"Yeah baby." Scott said back just as soft.

"I love you sooo much." she told him.

"I know, everything you do, every little move you make or every expression you give me shows that." he said.

"Mmmm...but I like to say it." she said looking up at him.

"Yes, me too. I love you." he said returning her gaze.

"You show me with everything you do as well. It's so amazing how all the small things mean more than the big things. Most of the time at least." she said still looking at him.

"Very true. Just being with you makes me sooo happy." he told her.

"Yeah, and I am so glad we're together. And we'll always be together, right?" she said.

"Of course, there's no way I'm ever throwing away something so wonderful. Someone so beautiful inside-out. I never wanna lose you." he said and he caressed her cheek with his fingers and slowly slide his thumb over to her lips. He softly moved it over her top lip and then her bottom.

"Oh Scott..." was all Jean could manage to say before his lips met hers in a passionate kiss.

Their long romantic and passionate kiss lasted for minutes and those minutes nearly added up to fifteen. They just kissed and held each other. They were so lost in love and they felt wonderful. But the kiss finally ended and they said good-night. After that they fell asleep wrapped tightly in one another's arms all night long.

Morning has now arrived. Another school day so the mansion was crazy, as usual. But this time, Jean was one of the ones getting ready. She's physically ready to return to school, although she's not sure about the mental part. But she's willing to give it a try. She's tired of sitting around the institute for most of her time.

"Jean, are you sure you are ready to go back to school?" asked the Professor.

"Yeah, at least I wanna give it my best shot. I'm tired of being stuck around here almost constantly." Jean explained.

"Very well then. But if you have any problems that you can't handle please come home. The school won't give you any trouble in returning here for I will make sure of that." Xavier said smiling.

"Thank you Professor. I'm gonna run upstairs really quick. I have to see my parents and sister before they're off for home." Jean said and she headed up the steps as fast as her legs would allow her.

She didn't have too much time because they were going to be off shortly after she leaves for school. They were all ready to go now.

"Hey, I had to see you all before you leave." Jean said and she ran to them and they all shared one big hug. Her sister was in the same room as her parents now.

"Honey, we'll miss you so much." said her mother.

"As we usually do." her father added.

"Yeah, I even miss you." said her sister with a grin.

Jean laughed at her sister's words. "Yeah, you probably miss arguing with me." she joked and they all laughed together.

"Well I guess we should all be getting downstairs. We'll be leaving in about a half hour." said Jean's father.

"Yeah, I suppose so." said Jean.

The four went down the stairs and they all headed for the kitchen. Jean had already ate but there was still time for her mom, dad and sister to eat before they were on their way.

Time went fast and it was time to go separate ways. Scott went out to his car along with Rogue and Kurt. Kitty stayed behind to wait for Jean who was saying good-bye to her family.

"Well I guess we'll see you sometime in the future." said her mother smiling.

"Yes, definately." Jean said smiling back.

Jean hugged and kissed her parents and then her sister. Then Jean walked to the door to meet up with Kitty and the two girls walked out to Scott's car together.

"I'm, like, so happy you're coming back to school. But just to warn you, it's totally nuts there. Don't let anyone bring you down. And I know they'll try. I mean, they've been, like, saying all kinds of crazy things about you and your "mutant" friends. So just watch your back." Kitty said.

"Awww Kitty. I will. You do the same. And try not to get into trouble with those jerks anymore. The best thing is to ignore them." Jean said as she put her arm around Kitty and they were now standing beside Scott's car.

Scott looked at them. "Yeah, they don't know a damn thing about you or any of us."

Kurt looked at him and then the two girls who were getting in the car. "But it sure is hard to ignore creeps like that." he said.

"Yeah, especially when they're always dissin' us. But they're just fuckin' spineless assholes who think they're better than other people." said Rogue harshly.

"Like, exactly. And "other people" means "us mutants"." Kitty agreed.

Scott looked back. "You are all right but we still have to stay calm, or at least try our best to, and set an example for fellow mutants."

"You know he's right." Jean said.

The three in the back seat just shook their heads. They knew he was right. He hit the nail on the head.

After that Scott started his car and pulled out and they were on their way to Bayville High. It was nice to have the group all together again. But the good feeling was bound to be demolished by the time they arrive to the school. Ever since mutants were out in the open everything has been so much more difficult. And now with everything between Jean and her creep of an ex-boyfriend, the complaint against him and the trial and her winning, it'll all be even more difficult. But they can handle anything that is thrown their way or they're not the X-Men.

"Well, we are now parked outside of living hell." said Scott.

"Yay." Rogue replied.

"Yeah, double yay." said Kurt making Kitty giggle. "What?" he added.

"I guess I should say...tripple yay." she said giggling more.

"Shut up, Ms. Pryde." Kurt said jokingly and softly pushing her.

"No, Mr. Wagner." Kitty joke back and softly pushed him back.

They both started laughing. Scott and Jean had already gotten up and out of the car. Rogue jumped up and got out on Scott's side and Kitty and Kurt got out on Jean's side. Kurt and Kitty were still picking at each other.

"Oh my God, grow the fuck up." Rogue said angerly.

"What?!" Kurt and Kitty said in unison.

Rogue just walked ahead of them. Scott and Jean walked hand in hand, as they usually did. They looked at each other and shook their heads due to the silly behavior of Kitty and Kurt. And Rogue's sarcastic and gloomy reactions. Everything was very close to being back to normal.

They were all entering the building and everyone was just staring at Jean. She heard some people whisper while others just gave her an angry glare. She just kept walking and payed little attention to them. She wasn't going to let them ruin her return to school. She wanted to have a good day back. And that's exactly what she was going to do.

_Well because of how well this story is going I've decided to add more than one more chapter. I'm not sure how many more I will add but time will tell:) Thanks for your support:)_


	22. Almost Perfect Day

The group of friends all did their best to ignore the other students' rude comments and dirty looks. They all did well, especially Rogue but she'd be the first to snap if anything went too far. She couldn't help it. She holds a lot of stuff inside and then finally she can't any longer so she explodes. It makes her emotions much more intense. 

Sadly, the group had to split up some. Rogue went off on her own and Kurt and Kitty went off together. Scott went with Jean, of course. He had her come to his locker with him after they went to hers. He was going to try his best to stick as close to her as he could. The only time they'd be apart was during classes. But they had a couple together so that would be easy.

"Scott, you sure are being very protective over me." Jean said.

"I know, I don't want anything else to happen to you." Scott said to her.

"Yeah, but what are you gonna do when I go to the bathroom?" she asked.

"I don't really know, I guess I'll wait outside." he said with a smile.

"Oh okay. And if you have to go." she asked.

"Jean." he said.

"What? You'll have me wait outside, right?" she said back.

"Yes." he said.

"Your face...such a funny expression came over it." Jean said laughing.

"Oh really, well you're gonna make a weird expression when I..." Scott said and he reached his arm around her side and squeezed it causing her to giggle. "Ticklish huh? I'll have to remember that."

"Yes, I'm very ticklish." she said.

"Obviously." he said back.

Luckily no one was in the hall at that time. Jean and Scott had to rush to homeroom or they'd be late. He walked her to hers first, which wasn't too far from his. He quickly kissed her and then he was off.

Jean walked in the room feeling strange since she's been gone for a while. And she felt like everyone was staring at her. She tried to ignore their stares. She heard some whispering and then laughing. She knew they were talking about her. And among them was Taryn. What a complete back-stabbing bitch, Jean thought. She was finally to her seat. The teacher was still not in the room. He was always in after the bell which was going to ring in two minutes.

Jean sat at her desk and made sure she had everything. She was sure she did. Now the bell rang and the teacher came in and took attendance. He was shocked to see that Jean was back. She never had any problems with him, she also had him for physics, first period, so she didn't have to leave the room when the bell rings. That was nice on her behalf. Especially now that everything's crazier than before.

"Ms. Grey, long time no see." her teacher said.

"Yeah Mr. McCullock." Jean said.

"Nice to have you back Jean." he said.

"It's nice to be back." she told him.

"I've decided that I will move your seat for class. You can sit right up here in front of my desk. Your one of my best students and I don't want any others to change that. I'm sure they'll be causing you more grief than usual." he stated.

"Yeah, thanks." she said feeling happy that she'd be up front and further away from harms way, so to speak.

Homeroom was about over. Only five minutes until the bell. Jean just sat at her desk and fiddled with her pen and then her hair. Finally the bell rang and everyone left the room except for herself and Mr. McCullock. She got up and headed for her new seat and got her materials for class ready.

"I will tell they young man who sits there that he's been moved to your old seat." said the teacher.

"Thank you." Jean said smiling.

"No problem." he said and he headed towards the door to greet his students as he always did.

In no time class started. Once again, Jean heard whispers but at least she couldn't see any glares besides from the ones at the sides of her. But nonetheless, she didn't have to see to know, she could feel them. She just sat there and payed no attention to their nonesense. She only listened to Mr. McCullock.

The first period flew by fast and so did the second, third and fourth. It was now lunch time and Scott met Jean at her fourth period class and they went to their lockers and then lunch. When they got there they saw Kitty and Kurt but Rogue was nowhere in sight.

"Where's Rogue?" said Jean.

"Principal Kelly's office." Kurt said.

" Again? For what?" said Scott.

"Like, we don't really know. She had a slip sent to her during fourth period and she told me she would see me later." said Kitty.

"Damn." said Jean.

"It could be about yesterday." said Kurt.

"Then, like, why didn't we get a slip? We were part of that." Kitty questioned.

"I don't know. But she was the one who hit that stupid girl." answered Kurt.

"Yeah, that may be it." Kitty said.

They all ate and talked for the remainder of lunch. Now Rogue was coming in very late. She didn't have any time to eat but she just got a bottle of water and came to the same table that Scott, Jean, Kitty and Kurt were at. She didn't look happy. Well she looked more depressed than usual.

"What's wrong?" said Jean as Rogue took a seat beside her.

"Nothin'. Just that Taryn saw the principal this mornin' about yesterday and said that I started the whole thing. Ewww! I hate that stupid bitch! Now I have five days of in-school for somethin' I didn't even start. Well I guess I finished it. But she gets off with nothin'. Not even detention. Fuckin' A!" Rogue said angerly.

"Man that, like, totally sucks. When do you start?" said Kitty.

"Uh yeah. Next Monday. What a thrill that'll be." said Rogue sarcasticly.

Lunch was over now. Everyone said good-bye for now. Jean and Scott went off to their fifth period, which they shared. Rogue did the same. Kurt would have went with her because it was history and they had it together but he and Kitty had their passes signed to see Principal Kelly. They were going to try to straighten the mess out. It was very unlikely that he'd even hear a word they said but they weren't giving up so easy. They, too, were part of the incident the day before and they were either going to get Rogue out of in-school or they were going to join her. Knowing the principal, they will most likely be joining her.

Jean and Scott were already seated for class. And the good thing is that they sit beside each other. Their teacher came in and then the bell rang. She didn't shut the door but instead she made an announcement to the class.

"This will be a free period because I was unable to get all of the assignments and lessons for this period. My printer ran out of ink and I have to get a refill. And there wasn't time for me to see another teacher before this class. So you can work on homework from other classes, read a book or talk quietly. I will be right back because you're not getting off that easy, you will have a small homework assignment." said the teacher and she left the room and walked across the hall.

The class was happy they had no work for that period but they were upset about homework. Some of the students read while others did their homework from previous classes. A few students talked. Jean and Scott talked a little bit but then Jean said she wanted to get her work done for her second period. Scott understood and sat there. He'd often turn his head to Jean and just stare at her. After a while she noticed his gaze.

"Um, why are you staring at me?" she asked.

"Uh...I...well, you are so beautiful. I can't resist." he said stumbling for words and then he grinned.

"Oh Scott, so are you. I mean, you are so "handsome" you hot, sexy stud." Jean joked causing Scott's cheeks to turn red.

"Jean, not in class." he said still looking flushed.

"What? You like it. And it's true." she said smiling widely.

"Oh yeah, you better believe it baby." he said returning her smile.

Soon Jean went back to her work and Scott pulled out a notebook and started to write down some things. It wasn't long untill the teacher returned. She passed out the assignment for homework and said they could work on it or take it home. Most of the students just decided to take it home to do. Jean and Scott were among them. Scott was finished with what he wrote in his notebook and he tore the page out and folded it up. He wrote Jean's name on it. When she finished her homework he handed it to her. She thought it was a note but she opened it and it was a poem, a beautiful poem at that.

Jean read the poem, which read...

Your Name

I wrote your name in the dirt But the wind blew it away So I wrote it in the sand But a wave brushed it astray

I engraved your name in stone But the weather wore it down I thought I'd carve it in wood But somebody tore it down

I wrote your name in pencil But it erased away So then I wrote it in pen But ink won't last anyway

Last I wrote it in my heart And forever it will stay For that's how long I'll love you And it's every single day

"Scott. It is sooo beautiful. I love you." Jean said almost in tears from the poem.

"Yeah, I never wrote a poem before, except for in class." Scott said.

"Well it's beautiful hon." she said back.

"Thanks." he said.

The class was over and it was time for the next period. Everyone left the room and went on their way. Jean and Scott walked together as they have been doing. He took her to her next class and then headed for his. So far the day hasn't been too bad and it was almost over. But some of that will change for Jean while she's in her class. She shares it with Taryn, _oh yay_Jean thought.

Jean went to her seat as Taryn was walking in to go to hers. Since Taryn sat to the back she went down the same row that Jean was going down. She deliberately pushed Jean when she went back.

"Um, excuse you." Jean said feeling angry.

"What!?" Taryn said back.

"You could of said "excuse me" instead of being a rude little bitch." Jean told her.

"Whatever Jean. Don't talk to me." Taryn said being really snotty.

"Shut up. Just don't push me again or ..." Jean started saying.

"Or what? You'll beat me up? What? You'll use your mutant powers on me? Ooh, I'm so scared. Not! I'm not afraid of you." Taryn cut in.

"You are so not worth me getting in trouble." said Jean and she sat down and ignored Taryn.

The rest of the day was okay. Scott met Jean and finally the other three came along. Which were Rogue, Kurt and Kitty...who else would it be. Rogue was in her usual mood and the other two weren't looking too good. They are now serving in-school with Rogue for trying to get her out, just as they figured. And they didn't care, it wasn't all their fault yet they all have to pay the price. Anyway, other than a few bumps in the road, the day went pretty good. But there's always a new day to cause trouble, if it comes on by.

_It's not completely over yet...there is more on the way:) Once again, I want to thank ya'll for the support:)_


	23. Issues Among Friends

Time sure was passing quickly. The day was about over. Everyone had dinner and all the students had already gotten ready for bed. It was 9pm and once again Scott was in Jean's room. They were talking and just hanging out. They just finished the last of their homework. 

"Man today went fast." Scott said, he was laying out on Jean's bed with his arms crossed behind his head.

"Yeah, it sure did. And I can't believe that the're wasn't too much trouble with the other students." Jean said smiling, she too was laying down, but she was on her side with her elbow propping her up.

"That is amazing. I thought it would be totally crazy. I'm glad you didn't get into a fight with Taryn, like you said "she's not worth it" and she isn't. You'd be the one in trouble and she'd get away with it. Just like she did with teasing Kurt, Rogue and Kitty. They have to pay and she gets off free of no charge. What a bitch. Why did I even date her?" Scott stated.

"Yeah, but I don't know if I'll be able to keep my cool if she starts majorly bashing me and our friends. I can take it if it's me but when people mess with my friends it really es me off." Jean said making a fist with her other hand.

"I agree, but you really can't do a damn thing or else you'll be sitting in detention or in-school...or worse." he told her.

"Yeah, you are completely right. It sucks going to a school where most of it's staff and students are anit-mutant. What did we do to them? Of course, they'll say "you were born". But that's just stupid. It's not like any of us said "hey, I want to be a mutant." How crazy is that?" she said feeling a tad bit angry at society.

"Definately honey, but don't let it all get to you. We don't have much longer untill we graduate from that hell hole. Thank God." he said.

"Yes, that's true. But you'll be staying here and continuing with training students and etc. I'll be going to a college and who knows what'll happen. It's gonna be really hard." she told him with a sad look across her face.

Scott turned to his side and faced her. "Yeah. I know all of that. I'm really, really gonna miss you."

"Well, I hope I can be excepted to a university that's close enough to here. Then maybe I won't have to leave the institute. Let's see what goes on. I'll really, really miss you, too. I don't know how I'd survive without you by my side. I don't think I could." Jean told him sadly.

"I'm not sure I could either but we'll have to deal with whatever destiny throws in our way. As long as you call me every night. And visit every weekend or at least every other weekend, I think we'd be okay." he said with a slight smile.

"Yeah but it's gonna be hard to come home that often and not seeing you everyday will be so painful. And I'll miss everyone. Especially if I end up the whole way over in California. I truly hope not but it's a possibility. I'd make sure I call you every night though because I don't think I could sleep without hearing your voice. Life is getting so damn hard lately." she said, her eyes were filled with tears and they began to stream down her cheeks.

Scott slid closer to her and kissed her. He tried to wipe away her tears but they just kept on coming non-stop. He pulled Jean tightly against him and she buried her face into his chest and cried. He stroked her long, red hair and kissed the top of her head. Finally he rested his head on hers and kept trying to comfort her.

A couple hours went by and Jean was feeling better now. It was 10 past 11:00. She wanted to go and take her shower. Scott hadn't taken his yet either so he was going to get his. He kissed Jean and went to exit her room but she grabbed his hand before he could leave.

"Scott. Could we go into the bathroom together and talk while we get our showers? You know, while you're in and then while I'm in." Jean said.

"Yeah, I guess we could. I don't see any problem with that. But you can get yours first, ladies first." Scott said, he kind of felt weird because they'd never been in the bathroom together while taking showers.

"Don't worry, I won't look. Incase you're shy about me seeing you ." Jean said grinning.

"It doesn't bother me. We are dating. It's not like we're strangers. But I won't peek at you either, if you don't want me to." Scott said smiling.

"I don't mind. Like you said, we are dating. What the hell, why don't we just get in together. But I'll wash myself because I'm still a little weird about people touching me after going through all that with Duncan." she said feeling odd that she said that.

"Okay, yes, we'll wash ourselves but just talk. That's all I want. Just to be with you." he said.

Jean and Scott went and got their shower. Soon after they went to bed. Once again he stayed with her in her room. He felt he couldn't sleep without her. And she felt the same way. The young couple fell asleep almost immediately upon laying down.

It was soon morning and mostly everyone was awake and downstairs for breakfast and all. There were only four people who weren't completely ready and they were Jean, Scott, Kitty and Rogue. Scott had already went to his room to get dressed and Jean is dressed but they're just sitting on her bed talking. They can hear Kitty and Rogue. Kitty's in a pissy mood because Lance called her a few minutes ago and they got into another fight. Rogue is trying to calm her down but it's not working and she's just getting irritated herself.

"I hate him! He is, like, such a stupid ass jerk!" Kitty yelled.

"Calm down. Being angry at him sure as hell ain't gonna help anything. I don't blame ya for bein' so pissed off but what good is it to ya? Ya're just gettin' all stressed out." Rogue said hoping it would calm Kitty but apparently it made her worse.

"Calm down? How? He's always picking fights anymore! Like, sometimes I think he doesn't even care about me. He's probably only with me hoping I'll eventually lay him! But no way, that's not happening anytime soon. I'm not throwing my virginity away to that creep! I'm about ready to break up with him anyway." Kitty said.

"Ya should, break it off I mean. I know ya love him but he's not worth it." Rogue said.

"How would you know? Like, you don't have a boyfriend so you don't even know what it's like. Why don't you just leave me the hell alone!!!" Kitty screamed not even realizing what she just said untill she saw Rogue's face.

"Fine. I won't ever try to help ya again. No I don't have a boyfriend and maybe it's 'cause I can't touch anyone, unless I wanna put them in a coma or even worse...six feet under." Rogue said with her eyes becoming watery and she looked very upset. She turned and started walking out of the bedroom.

"Rogue! Wait! I am, like, sooo sorry. Please wait!" Kitty yelled to her feeling very hurt because she knew she went over the edge. She didn't mean to hurt Rogue.

Rogue said nothing she just kept walking. Kitty came after her and Rogue started walking faster to get away but Kitty grabbed her arm attempting to stop her.

"Let go of my fuckin' arm...now!!!" Rogue screamed and harshly pulled it out of Kitty's grasp. Rogue ran down the stairs and at this point Scott and Jean came out of her room to see what was going on.

"What's wrong?" said Scott.

"I, like, kinda said something that hurt her. I didn't mean to. I was angry and I guess I took it out on her. Now she probably won't even talk to me." Kitty said as her eyes swelled with tears but she fought to hold them back.

"Oh Kitty...I'm sure she'll forgive you." Jean said soothingly.

"I don't know, I went to far." Kitty said still holding the tears back.

"Man, what did you say exactly?" said Scott, he and Jean could only vaguely hear the conversation.

"Well, I pretty much said that she doesn't have a boyfriend and doesn't know what it's like to have one. I didn't realize what I said untill it was too late. I am, like, sooo damn stupid." Kitty said and a tear streamed down her right cheek but she quickly wiped it away and tried to pretend she was okay.

"Kitty you don't have to act like you're not hurting now. I can see that you truly are. It's all over your face and in you voice. And it's okay to cry." Jean told her and started to walk towards her.

"I didn't mean to...I almost made her cry..." Kitty began to say but her tears took over her words and she began to bawl.

Jean quickly got closer and Kitty just threw her arms around Jean in a tight embrace. Jean returned the move and held her. Kitty's face was buried in Jean's chest.

"It's okay honey. Let it out. It's better that way, otherwise you'll exploid. Take it from me, you don't want the bottle effect." Jean said as she soothed Kitty by stroking her hair and talking. Scott didn't know what to do so he just stood there. He only knew how to calm Jean. But he decided to go downstairs and see if Rogue would talk. He kissed Jean and headed down.

Soon Kitty was feeling a bit better and Jean took her into her room real quick to help her fix herself up. Her eyes were shot and puffy and her mascara was running.

Meanwhile, Scott tried to talk to Rogue but it was pointless. She gets mad and she won't talk rationally. She always gets sarcastic and mean. But it's just how she is. And she has definately gotten better with that since she's been living at the institute.

"Scott, leave me alone. I don't wanna talk to her. Not now, maybe later. But it'll be whenever I want to not when you or someone else wants me to. Okay?" she said in a really sarcastic and y tone.

"Fine. I was just trying to help." he said as he got up from his chair at the kitchen table. Everyone else had ate and everything.

"Well don't." she mumbled.

"Bitch." he muttered to himself when he heard her reply.

"What?! Don't think I didn't hear that." she said angrily.

"Who cares if you did. That's truly how you're acting." he said.

"Whatever. Just leave me alone." she told him.

"Aright then, I will." he said and he walked off away from her.

Now Kitty and Jean came down the steps. Jean had her arm around Kitty. It was already time to go to school and Kitty wasn't going to eat anyway because she's too upset. Jean didn't feel that hungry she just figures she'll eat a good lunch. Scott was too mad. And Rogue was being her mopy, angry self, so she didn't eat breakfast either.

Scott's little group was ready to go. Kurt sat in the back with Rogue and Kitty, as usual but he d it today because it was almost like a battle zone. So he decided he'd sit between the girls.

"Would one of you switch with me?" he asked.

"Why?" said Rogue. "I'd still be too close to her for comfort." Kitty glared at Rogue.

"Well you'd be a bit further because I'd be in the middle." he said.

"Fine, maybe you'll get off my back then." Rogue said as her and Kurt switched seats so that he was between the girls.

"Knock it off Rogue." said Scott feeling really angry with her.

"Whatever." she mumbled.

"Eooh! You are really ticking me off ." said Scott and he just began to drive.

In a matter of minutes they were at school. Rogue was the first to get out of the car. She stormed off and into the building.

"And to think, I have in-school for standing up and trying to get her out of it." Kitty said.

"Yeah, it sure sucks." said Kurt.

Kitty and Kurt went off together talking and Jean and Scott got out of the car as well and headed towards the school.

"Hopefully no one brushes Rogue the wrong way today or they'll be in trouble." Jean said.

"Yeah. I don't know what her problem is." Scott said back.

"Well, it's simple. Kitty really hurt her and she's very fragile. Even if it doesn't appear that way, she is. She just tries to bottle everything inside and it exploids but unlike me, she takes it out on others. And she usually doesn't cry she just gets really frustrated and freaks out." Jean explained.

"Man, you're good." Scott said.

"I know. But it's not really that complicated, not to me. She needs extra love even if she denies it and tries to refuse to receive it. She's truly not as bad as she seems." Jean said.

"And it helps when you have psychic abilities." he said jokingly.

Jean laughed. "I guess so."

The two entered the building and Scott walked her to her locker and etc like he did the day before. Soon they were in homeroom and the bell rang. They were talking untill homeroom was over, he quickly kissed her when the teacher wasn't looking and then he went to his first class.

The day was going well so far and pretty fast at that. It was the end of fourth period and almost time for lunch. There were only ten minutes left so Jean asked if she could use the bathroom. Her teacher allowed her. She told him to tell Scott where she was when he came there to meet her if she hadn't returned yet. He agreed so she left.

The bathroom was only a few doors down. Jean entered and kind of panicked, right by the sink was Taryn. _Oh damn_ Jean thought. But she walked in and went into a stall hoping Taryn didn't see her. But apparently she did.

"So Jean, you appeared to look nervous when you saw me. Why? Are you afraid?" said Taryn.

"No. I just didn't think you'd be here." Jean said.

"Yeah sure." Taryn said.

"Can't I take a pissin piece?" Jean said.

"You're sure a smart-ass bitch, aren't you?" Taryn said and she was pressing Jean's buttons.

"You know what, I am just gonna ignore you." Jean said.

The bathroom was quiet for a while untill Jean came out of the stall and washed her hands. After she dried them Taryn purposely pushed her. Jean felt like giving her a blast of telekinesis so that she'd be against the wall but decided it wasn't the best thing to do. Taryn pushed her again and Jean ended up pushing her back.

"Ooh, you're fighting back." said Taryn.

"And if I wanted to I could mess you up bad because you are so small. I could break you in half." said Jean.

"Yeah right. I'd like to see you try to mess me up." Taryn said and she pushed Jean again.

"No, I'd be the one busted for defending myself while you, the one who started it, gets off with nothing. You've already put three of my friends in in-school and I'm in no hurry to join that club or end up being expelled. I would like to graduate this year so I don't have to see your face or any other errogent assholes' faces again. This school has become a living hell for me and people simular to me." Jean said.

"Yeah, what's your point. You're a freak and so are your creepy friends. Especially that goth bitch who thinks she's so tough. She looks like a whore that stands on the corner. But that's right, she's the untouchable one so I suppose she's not a whore." said Taryn.

"You bitch! I can take your stupid remarks about me but when you start saying shit about my friends that's where you go too damn far." Jean said getting very angry and she still tried to control herself but it was getting harder.

"Oooh, I'm sooo scared." Taryn mocked and harshly shoved Jean into the side of the sink.

Jean was angry and sheshoved Taryn back, but not with her hands...Taryn seemed to just fly backwards up against the wall. Even though Jean used her powers she didn't get too rough because if she left any marks she'd never hear the end of it from the school. Jean walked over to her ex-friend and stood in front of her, still holding her against the wall with her telekinesis.

"So what's it gonna be Taryn. Are you gonna stop bashing my friends or does this have to get complicated?" Jean asked.

Taryn for the first time looked scared. She couldn't move one muscle in her body, except for her mouth. But she was very afraid of Jean and Jean could not only see it in her eyes but she could feel it. She definately didn't like or wantto be like this and feels like a bad guy or rather "bad girl" but she just snapped. At least it's not that bad, she could of blasted Taryn bad enough to kill her.

"So are you answering me. I'm sorry if I am scaring you but I can't take this anymore. I've been strong sooo long and now I can't be strong. But I don't want to hurt you. And I didn't stop being your friend, as I recall, you ditched me after you found out I was a mutant. If you were truly my friend you still would be." Jean said and then she let Taryn down and walked out of the bathroom.

Taryn didn't know what Jean was going to do but she was hoping she would have been really harsh. She was trying to set Jean up but ended up accomplishing nothing. Right now she had a micro camera in her purse that Principal Kelly told her to plant there hoping something terrible would happen and he'd have the proof on tape. Not only was he watching it but he was recording it from the moment Jean came in to the moment she left. He had nothing. All he had was the truth that not all mutants are evil. But he'd still find something to make some kind of problem. He wasn't going to throw away the tape though so who knows.

Scott and Jean ran into each other when Jean left the bathroom. He was on his way to meet her outside the door. So they went to their lockers together and then went to lunch.

At lunch Jean and Scott went through the line. Rogue and Kitty must have already went through the line, unless they haven't arrived yet or they just decided to skip eating and went to sit. Kurt was the only one who showed up in the line. There were four people between them though.

"Hey guys!" Kurt yelled.

"Oh, hello Kurt. Where's Rogue and Kitty?" said Jean.

"Uh, I don't know. I haven't seen them. And the last time I did they were still mad at each other." he answered.

"Great." Scott mumbled.

"I know what you mean." Jean said. "Well, we'll talk more at our table."

"Okay." Kurt said.

Jean was at the front of the line and soon Scott was. In a bit Kurt was up there and over to the table. And there sat Rogue and Kitty who were completely ignoring one another.

"Are you two gonna stay mad at each other forever?" Kurt asked.

"Like, I don't know. Nor do I even care." Kitty said.

"Shut up." Rogue said.

"I guess so." said Kurt and then he looked at Jean and Scott. "So what's up?"

"Nothing really, we could of told you not to ask them that question." Scott said.

"Yeah, we asked them pretty much the same thing and got about the same reaction." Jean added.

"Hmmm...why didn't you?" Kurt asked.

"We were eating and it's not polite to talk with you mouth full." Jean answered.

"She's right." Scott said.

"Yes, very true. So let's stop talking so we can eat because I don't know about you but I'm starving." Kurt said.

"You, Jean and I didn't even have any breakfast." Scott said.

"We'll, you should of been downstairs at the table instead of upstairs making out." Kurt joked.

"Ha ha, very funny." Scott laughed.

"Yeah, we were only talking." Jean agreed with Scott.

"How can you talk with your tongues down each other's throats?" Kurt joked again.

"Stop it, we were talking." Jean said giggling and she playfully hit Kurt on the arm.

The three friends laughed and then finished their lunch. Rogue and Kitty just sat there still ignoring each other. Kitty was working on some homework from one of her classes and Rogue was just staring into space.

Soon lunch was over. Kitty went off on her own and Kurt and Rogue went to fifth together, like they usually do since they have it together. Jean and Scott did the same. Fifth period wasn't going to be as easy today as it was yesterday and they already figured that out.

They went to their seats and sat down. In no time the class started and it seemed to be wizzing by. There were five minutes till the bell rings. Jean and Scott just talked for the remainder of the period. The bell rang and he walked her to her sixth period, kissed her quickly and was off to his class.

Jean went into the room and quickly went to take her seat before Taryn arrived and started more trouble. She may have seemed freightened before lunch in the bathroom but that could have changed by now. So Jean wasn't feeling up to getting into anything in class.

There were two minutes before the bell was to ring and that's when Taryn came striding in the classroom. She walked towards Jean's desk and stopped. Jean was hoping she'd start walking again but she didn't.

"Jean." Taryn said.

"What do you want now? If you're looking for more trouble you are not gonna find it here." Jean stated.

"Um, no. I just wanna talk." said Taryn.

"You wanna talk to me? Why? What would we possibly have to talk about? Except for how much of a back-stabber you are." Jean said feeling a bit uncomfortable.

"I deserved that." said Taryn.

"Yes, you did." Jean said back.

"Well I want to tell you something because I think you should know." Taryn said.

Just then the bell rang and the teacher entered the room and shut the door. "We'll talk at the end of the period." Jean said quickly.

"Okay." Taryn said and headed back to her seat.

The class started and everyone was taking down some notes. After they took the notes they were given two short assignments to finish before the class was over. Everyone got done and the teacher collected their work. At this time there was fifteen minutes of class left so the teacher said they could talk quietly as she graded their work.

Taryn came up and sat in an empty seat beside Jean. For some reason she really wanted to talk to her. Very strange.

"Jean, you know what happened in the bathroom?" Taryn asked.

"Yeah, of course, how could I forget?" Jean said.

"Well, Principal Kelly tried to set you up but you proved him wrong. And me. See we thought you'd totally hurt me. And the truth is that you didn't you ended up walking away." Taryn explained.

"What? That was planned?" Jean said shocked.

"Yes. We were trying to prove to the whole school that mutants are bad." said Taryn.

"How?" Jean asked feeling slightly confused.

"Well, the principal gave me a mini camera and I placed on my purse. I had my purse on the sink and it picked up everything. He had a TV in his office that was connected to the camera and he was watching. He had also recorded it. We hoped you'd show up so we could prove our point and the point of most of the students and staff of this school. That was that mutants are a terrible treat." Taryn went on explaining.

"What? Isn't it wrong for him to be, so to speak, spying on his students?" Jean said and she felt invaded.

"Yes, you're right. It truly is. But we were proven totally wrong. He has nothing except the opposite of his story, but the opposite is the truth. Now I see it whether he or anyone else does. Mutants, in general, are not treats. I guess they never were. They're just like everyone else and there's good and bad among all beings, human and mutant alike. I am sooo very sorry that I couldn't see it before. I really feel horrible for just brushing you off and treating you like complete shit. Will you forgive me Jean?" Taryn said.

"Whoa. Uh. I surely didn't expect to hear this from you. I guess I'll forgive you. But not trust you. It will be a long, long time before I can trust you again. You broke that bond when you decided to ditch me and diss my friends and all. But yes, we can be friends, if you want to. Nothing major. Just friends." Jean said.

"Okay. That sounds great." Taryn said and she got up and hugged Jean. Jean felt odd at that point but she returned the embrace.

They said they'd talk later. One of them would call or whatever. So that was that. The teacher finished grading and she passed out the work for the students to take home. And then the bell rang.

The school day was now over. It wasn't really too bad of a day. Rogue and Kitty were still fighting. They came out of the school together only so they could wait for Scott, Jean and Kurt. When they headed for a bench Kitty saw Lance. He noticed her and came over.

"Like, what do you want?" Kitty asked.

"To talk. You hung up on me this morning and I wasn't finished talking." Lance said.

"Well I was." she said glaring at him.

"Don't get smart Kitty." he said getting angry.

"I, like, wasn't." she said.

"Yes you, like, were." he said mocking her and getting even more angry.

"Just go away Lance. I don't have anything to say to you." Kitty said feeling really upset.

"Well, maybe you have nothing to say but I do." Lance told her and he grabbed her by the arm roughly.

Kitty squeeled a bit because it hurt but then she phased through his hand. "I said leave me alone. Don't you understand english?" Kitty said getting quite annoyed at him.

"You bitch!" he yelled and wacked her hard across the face.

Rogue jumped in front of Kitty at that point. "How dare ya call my best friend a bitch and hit her! You are a in' creep! Just get outta here now!" Rogue yelled and she was very ed.

"Wow. Back off stripes." Lance said.

"No way. And don't call me stripes, my name is Rogue and if ya don't get the hell outta here ya're gonna find out how painful my touch is. And I won't let go 'till ya drop." Rogue said through clenched teeth.

"Yeah, whatever. You X-Men geeks are too good for me anyway. It's over Kitty." Lance said and with that he took off.

"Good! I was about to ditch your sorry and lame excuse for a man anyway. Like, why do I need a guy who's gonna hit me and treat me bad?" Kitty said with anger and sorrow.

"I'm glad you feel the same you fucking slut because you were a waste of my time and energy. And I'm more of a man than you think." he told her.

"Excuse me. You were a waste of my time and everything. All you care about is yourself. And, like, no way are you a man. Real men don't hurt their girls. You're just a damn creep and I wish you'd just go to hell." Kitty said feeling more angry than sad.

"Kiss my ass bitch. You are nothing and you never will be anything but a little slut. Goodbye." Lance said walking away and he felt someone grab his arm harshly.

"Didn't I tell ya not to bash my friend? Huh bastard?" Rogue said with great anger.

"Uh, do you think I'm gonna listen to you?" Lance said.

"You really need to get a fuckin' life and grow up. Kitty isn't a slut by far. And she's not a bitch. You're just made 'cause she never screwed you." Rogue said not holding back any.

"Maybe so. She wouldn't even let me touch her in any kind of way. We'd kiss, but that was all. It gets very boring." Lance said.

"You son-of-a-bitch! I'm glad she was smart enough to save her innocence. Ya definately ain't worth it. Ya'd probably just use her for sex." Rogue said.

"Probably. Well I have to go. I'm tired of the sight of you losers." Lance said.

"Yeah well, good riddance." Rogue yelled to him as he walked away.

Kitty started crying. "Guys are, like, complete assholes with a capital A."

Rogue grabbed Kitty and pulled her into a close, tight embrace. "I don't like gettin' all mushy but ya definately could use a hug. I'm sorry for bein' such a bitch to ya. But ya hurt my feelin's this mornin'...badly."

"I know. I'm sooo sorry. I shouldn't have said those things to you." Kitty said through her tears. "I'm done with guys. All they are is damn assholes."

"Hey!" Kurt said as he walked up to the girls.

"Sorry Kurt. Like, I guess not all guys. You're really sweet." Kitty said struggling to smile.

"You better believe it. The fuzzy dude is a total romantic guy, I'd never lay one finger on a girl...in a harmful way." Kurt said.

Kitty ended up giggling and Rogue actually let a giggle slip out. Kitty moved out of Rogue's embrace and over to Kurt. Then they shared a friendly hug. Kitty laid her head on his shoulder and he held her close and tight. _This feels really_ _nice. Lance never held me like this...ever_ she thought.

At this time Jean and Scott joined the three and they all made it over to Scott's car. Soon they were on their way home. Kitty told Jean and Scott what happened with her and Lance and they felt sad for her. But at the same time happy because he wasn't the right man for her, he wasn't even a true man. She deserved someone better. Someone more sensative who would be romantic and passionate in everything they do. Even if it's only hanging out and kissing and doing things like that.

Then Jean told everyone about her day. From what happened in the bathroom with Taryn to when Taryn talked to her in sixth period and wanted to be her friend again. Everyone was quite shocked. Scott told Jean to be careful because Taryn could be up to something. But Jean said that she sensed that she was sincere.

Finally they were all home and they got out of the car and went into the institute. Some of them went to do homework and others just chilled. Soon they day would come to an end and they would have to start a new day. And who knows what would lie ahead.


	24. Resurfacing Pain

Saturday has arrived and all of the students are glad to be school free for the weekend, especially those who attend Bayville High. Who wouldn't blame them for being happy to be home? The good thing was that Logan was actually being nice and he allowed them to sleep in untill at least 10am. Sleeping in was rare because he always had the danger room sessions and usually the students he chose had to be up early even on weekends. At this point everyone was awake. It was already 11am and Logan had just finished training with Scott, Jean and most of the others. He allowed Rogue, Kurt and Kitty the option to sit out but stay in the danger room just incase. Everyone was exhausted from the training...and some were starving. They all made their way to the kitchen for lunch.

"Man, I am so hungry." Rogue said as she placed her hand over her stomach as it growled.

"Me, too." Kurt said. Everyone looked at him. "What? I am."

"How? You, like, ate enough this morning to fill you up for the entire day." Kitty said smiling.

"She is right you know." Scott told Kurt and he placed his right hand on his shoulder.

The other students were all seated as they teased Kurt.

"Oh, come on guys. It couldn't have been that bad." he exclaimed.

Now Jean finally jumps in with her opinion. "Um, well...you did eat a lot. Seriously."

"You're just jealous." he said jokingly.

"No way! I just wonder where you put it all." she joked back.

"Well can we just go eat 'cause I'm starvin'?" Rogue said as she moved through the small group. 

They nodded because they were all hungry. Especially after the training session. That always works up an appetite.

Everyone had their lunch and afterwards they all went their separate ways. Jean and Scott went upstairs to talk, hoping no one would bother them. They wanted to be alone for a change. They haven't had that since Jean has been feeling better. Maybe everyone just worries about her and would like to be around, who knows. But, anyhow, they both went into Scott's room instead of Jean's this time.

The young couple sat on his bed beside each other but at an angle. Scott gently placed his right hand on Jean's left thigh and she laid her left hand over it.

"We may finally have time to talk alone." he said.

"Yeah, that would be kind of nice. I really miss just hanging out with you...not that I don't enjoy their company or anything." she said in agreement.

"Of course, it is nice to be with the others. But I really miss just us, too." he said and he leaned towards her, closed his eyes (although you can't see) and placed his lips gently over hers. She closed her eyes and returned the move.

Jean loved it when Scott kissed her. He was always so gentle, romantic and passionate...even if it was just a little peck. She always felt as though she was melting into him. She knows that he feels exactly the same. 

In about a minute they moved away and stared at each other. Scott was looking into her eyes and she had a feeling he was even though she couldn't see his eyes. And she looked at him. Then she slid over closer and laid her head on his right shoulder with her arm around his waist. He put his arm around her waist and laid his head gently on hers. He wishes he could hold her and never let go. 

After Jean and Scott sat there for a while they decided to lay down. For some reason she was tired so he laid down with her. He held her tightly in his arms as she laid partially on top of him, her head on his chest. He stroked her hair and she fell asleep. He continued to slide his hand over her hair untill he began to drift off to sleep as well.

About 20 minutes later he woke up because Jean was moaning and thrashing around in her sleep. She begun to talk in her sleep. But it was more of a scream.

"Get away from me! Stop! Somebody help! Scott!" she screamed.

Scott shook her hoping to wake her up but he couldn't. The room began to shake some and things were moving. He shook he more and a bit harder. Still nothing. Finally he shook her even harder, but not hard enough to hurt her. She awoke gasping and besides her heavy breathing everything was silent untill there was a knock at the door.

"What's going on? Is everything okay in there?" Storm asked sounding very worried.

"Um, I don't know. I think Jean was having a very bad dream. She was tired so I held her as she fell asleep. I must of fell asleep, too, because she woke me up by her screams and movement." Scott said loud enough for Storm to hear.

"Should I summon the Professor?" she asked.

"No, I'll talk to her and try to calm her." he said back.

"Okay, but if you need me or anything I'll be in my room for a little while." she said soothingly.

"Alright." he said.

Scott looked at Jean and she was clutching at her head the same way she did when she had extreme headaches from her psychic abilities which usually lead to a power surge. He quickly looked around and the room was a bit of a mess. He then looked back at Jean.

"Jean, can you hear me? Are you okay?" he asked as he put his arm around her and moved closer. But she said nothing. She kept clutching her head and she began to cry. "Honey, please talk to me. I want to help. I need to know what's wrong."

After a few minutes Jean finally spoke. "My head...it hurts so bad..." she moaned through tears.

"What happened. My guess is you a had a bad dream? Did you?" he asked feeling very scared.

"Uh...yes. But I don't want to talk about it anymore. I thought it was over. I though those dreams were gone. Will I ever be free again?" she cried and she moved closer and onto his lap. She pressed her face against his chest and bawled. He comforted her by whispering that he wouldn't let anything happen to her and that he'd always be there. And he stroked her hair again and kissed the top of her head while rocking her.

"Okay, you don't have to baby. I love you and I have strong feelings about what happened in your dream. It's okay." he said softly and tears began to roll down his face as well. He couldn't stand seeing her so torn up inside. He had hoped she wouldn't have those dreams again but, most likely, she'll have them the rest of her life. You can't just erase something so horrible. "If only I could take all of your pain and make you feel happy all the time. I'd give the universe to you if I could." he added hoping she'd feel a little more at ease soon. 

His hopes partly came true. She isn't crying as much now. But he still held her close and rocked her and he talked sweetly. "I'm never gonna let you go."

X: I was finally able to get this chapter up. Sorry it's so short but I'll be adding 6 more chapters and I'll try to make them longer. At least a little longer. I hope you like this chapter. I'm also sorry it took me so long to get it done and posted. I'm hoping to start the next one here soon, maybe even today. So hang in there. Please R&R. Thanks. X 


	25. Unawareness

X: Well here's chapter 25. I hope you all like it. It's a bit longer than the last but not really long. I still have 5 more chapters to add so please hang in there. You know what to do now. R&R. X

It's now Sunday morning. There was no training today for the students. But Logan used the danger room for himself. Jean woke up with a horrible headache from the night before. Her and Scott definately had a tough night. She did stop crying but every time she fell asleep she ended up having nightmares. So she really didn't get too much sleep, neither did Scott because he refused to even fall asleep when she did. He didn't want to fall too deep into sleep and not wake up when she needed him. He figured she'd need him a lot since her nightmares are coming back.

Right now it was after breakfast so everybody has already eaten and went off to do whatever. But for some reason Rogue decided to stay in the kitchen with Jean and Scott. Her and Jean have gotten closer, especially since Jean's attack and all, but Rogue kind of went off to herself...like usual. But now she wanted to talk to them.

"So what keeps you down here?" Scott asked with a slight smile.

"Well, I heard Jean screaming last night..." Rogue started to answer. "...and I'm just hopin' she's okay." she looked over at Jean. Scott looked away from Rogue and over to Jean himself. 

Jean was over by the counter getting some milk. But she looked kind of out of it. Her hand was a bit shakey as she poured her drink.

"I don't know...she's having nightmares again." Scott said and a painful expession came upon his face. If Rogue could see his eyes she'd see them swell with tears. He tried hard to hold back. He could cry in front of Jean but he didn't think he could in front of anyone else.

"Man. That really sucks." Rogue said and she stood up and put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm gonna go talk to her, if that's okay." she added.

"Sure, just be careful. It's hard to say when or if she'll have another power surge. I thought for sure she would last night. Luckily nothing like that happened. But we could be on thin ice." he gave a slight warning because it is possible. Plus being too close to Jean while she's having a break-down isn't really a good idea.

Rogue nodded and slowly walked over to Jean who had already finished her milk. Jean still looked a bit shakey. "Are ya okay Jean?" Rogue asked feeling worried.

Jean didn't answer her. It seemed as though she was just staring into space. Rogue moved closer. "Jean, can ya hear me sugar? I just want to talk to ya, I'm worried." 

Jean still said nothing. Scott stood up. He didn't feel too good about this. Finally Jean turned around but only to stumble. Somehow she lost her balance and fortunately Rogue was right there. Jean fell right into her arms.

"Oh my God! She just fanted!" Rogue exclaimed as she held onto Jean tightly. 

Scott rushed over to them. "Is she breathing?" he shouted.

"Yeah, but she doesn't look too good." Rogue said.

Jean looked pale and for her that wasn't really good.

"Damn it! We need the Professor!" he yelled feeling really scared.

"Go get him, I'll stay here with Jean." Rogue said trying to stay calm.

"No! You get him. I want to stay with her." he said, he would feel better if he held Jean.

"Okay, I understand." she slowly and carefully moved her arms away from Jean as Scott, just as gently, placed his around Jean. He held her tight and changed his holding position. He held her so that she was craddled in his arms.

Rogue quickly took off to find Xavier. 

Hours later Jean woke up in the infirmary. She didn't remember blacking out or anything. But she wasn't alone when she awoke, Scott was seated in a chair right at her side. He held her hand. His head was tilted down but then she gently squeezed his hand when she realized he was holding hers. He looked up feeling relieved that she was finally awake.

"Oh Jean, you're awake. How do you feel hon?" he asked.

"Mmmm...okay...I guess. Really tired and my head hurts. But otherwise...fine." she said slowly.

"You nearly scared me to death. You were acting odd and Rogue went over to talk to you. You were really shakey and you fell. Luckily Rogue was right there to catch you. It was scary and strange. I mean, you were fine then all of a sudden you fanted." he explained.

Jean quickly sat up. "What? That's really weird. I don't even remember too much of that this morning. I do remember getting a drink of milk, but nothing after that." she was just as confused as Scott and everyone else.

"Well the Professor and Beast are running some tests on your DNA to see if they can find an answer to what happened. They're not even 100 sure. The only thing we can guess is that maybe it was because of your lack of sleep and the stress from the returning nightmares." he said. "But, sit back and don't get too active just yet. We don't need you fanting again or anything." he added.

She leaned back again and looked at Scott. "Hopefully it's only that. You know, that I'm just tired and stressed." she said.

"Yeah, hopefully." he leaned towards her and pressed his lips gently to hers. She returned the moved so that they shared a short but loving kiss.

After a short while Professor X and Hank returned to the infirmary. The news was good but a bit bad. They still weren't completely sure what was going on.

"Jean, which news do you want first? The good or the slightly bad?" Beast asked.

Scott looked at Jean and then over to the Professor and Hank. Jean sat there thinking for a moment and then she looked at Beast with a worried expression.

"Well, I suppose I'll take the bad first. I hope it's not too bad." she said.

"No, it's not horrible. It's only that we're still not real sure to why you actually passed out. But the good news is that there are no medical problems otherwise. And we are still taking a huge guess that it all happened because of your nightmares. That's definately stressing you and stress can cause things to happen." Hank explained hoping he was thorough enough.

"Oh, okay. So it's not something major?" she asked. Scott was looking back and forth as they all spoke.

"No." Hank said with relief.

Xavier spoke. "But I do believe I may need to put you through therapy. First I'll give you some medication that may help relax you, especially at night so that the nightmares may not occur. They could very likely be the start to all of this. I'll see what the medicine does first, if it works out then you may not need therapy. Although, I still would like to work with you to help you some because you need to talk about the nightmares. It'll be just you and me, and of course if you'd prefer to have Scott with us it's no problem." he went on explaining.

"Alright. I'll do anything to try and move on with my life. I don't want to remember everything that happened. I was doing okay untill the nightmares came back." Jean said feeling confused. She had no idea why they had returned. She barely thought about it.

"Jean, sometimes things like that never stop haunting you. So you'll never completely rid it from your mind. But with me and everyone else you'll be safe and loved. Though, it's possible that with time you'll slowly push it to the back of your mind and once that happens you'll recover more and more." Xavier said. He knew what she was thinking without even reading her mind. He could sense it.

"Couldn't you erase it from my mind?" Jean asked hoping for a yes.

"I thought about that but I'm not certain it would work. If I ever feel I can I may try. But for now we just have to work it out other ways and take each day one at a time." he explained.

"Okay." she said.

"Here's your medicine. Take two pills a day, one when you wake up and one right before you go to bed. It'll help you get through the day and at night it'll help you sleep. And you can leave the infirmary if you feel you're ready to. I see no reason why you couldn't. " the Professor said.

Jean took the pills and thanked Professor X and Beast for their help. Then they left her and Scott alone. She knew without anyone even telling her or without reading anyone's mind that they all loved her. She just knew. She used to be iffy with Rogue but she found out her true feelings when Rogue stayed with her before. Even Rogue was there for her. 'Oh, what did I do to deserve such wonderful friends?' she thought.

Scott looked at Jean and smiled. "You are a beautiful person Jean, that's why we all love you."

She looked up at him and her eyes began to swell with tears. "Oh Scott, I love you." she said smiling back.

Once again they kissed. But this time it was a bit longer. It was just as passionate as it always is.

"Well do you think you'd be fine with leaving the infirmary?" Scott asked.

"Yeah, but I don't want you to leave my side untill tomorrow at school." Jean said.

"Are you sure you'll be able to attend tomorrow?" he asked.

"If this medicine helps then yes." she answered.

He nodded okay and just as she was about to stand up he stopped her. "Uh-uh." She looked at him and raised an eyebrow. He then put his right arm behind her and slid his left arm under her legs. He picked her up and craddled her against his body tightly. She smiled widely at him and placed her arms around his neck. And again they kissed.

Scott carried Jean upstairs. Everyone watched them. Once they reached her room he went in and sat her carefully on the bed then sat closely beside her.

"You know what I was thinking?" he asked.

"Let me think...yes." she said jokingly.

"What, did you read my mind?" he joked back.

"Mmmhmmm." she said with another smile.

"Okay, then tell me." he said smiling back.

"You were thinking that we should share a room since we never sleep separate anyhow. And you want to know what I think. And I agree." she said and she kissed him on the lips.

"Really? That's great!" he exclaimed.

"Could you move into my room honey? It's a bit bigger." she asked.

"Sure. It doesn't matter to me as long as we're together." he said and he kissed her.

"Sweet. Let's talk to the Professor about it." she said after they pulled away.

"Okay. We will later on. I just want to hold you now." he said and he pulled her into a tight embrace. She returned his move. 


	26. Moments of Challenge

About an hour has passed since Jean and Scott had went into the room. They were still in each other's arms tigtly. The two loved moments such as this one.

Scott kissed Jean on the forehead softly. "Well baby, are you ready to speak to the Professor about moving me into here?" he spoke sweetly.

Jean looked up at him and smiled. "Yes. And I know I'll be more at ease with you sharing a room with me. At least I'd always have you by me."

"Yeah, but you have that now." he said looking into her beautiful eyes.

"True. Okay then, let's go see the Professor." she agreed and she went to stand up but he gently grabbed her hand and pulled her down and close to him.

Jean looked at him with a funny expression but when his lips met hers she realized why he had done what he did. He wanted to kiss her. And once again she felt herself melt into him. 

They kissed passionately for a few minutes before getting up to see Xavier. They exited the room holding hands with their fingers locked tightly together. The couple made their way downstairs to Professor X's study. The door was shut so Scott knocked.

"Come in Jean and Scott." the Professor said, he knew who it was.

Jean and Scott entered the room and walked over to Xavier's desk. He sat in his normal fashion and motioned for the two to take a seat. Scott grabbed a chair and pulled it directly beside the one Jean sat in. He placed his hand on her knee and she laid her hand on top of his.

"We'd like to talk to you about sharing a room." Scott said.

"I was wondering when you'd mention it. It's not a terrible idea but it's definitely something that should be discussed thoroughly." Xavier said with a slight smile.

"Well, yeah, that is true. We think we're ready though." Jean stated.

"Maybe you are but we have to take it slow. There's no need to rush into things." the Professor explained.

"Is it going to be a problem?" Scott asked.

"Not really a problem, Scott. I just feel we should talk it over with Jean's parents. And then perhaps the others who live here. We can't leave anyone out of the picture." Professor X explained more hoping they'd understand his dicision.

"Yeah. I guess you're right." Jean said feeling slightly disappointed but she knew it was only for the best.

The Professor decided that he'd call Jean's parents the next day and arrange a meeting. Hopefully they could make it because it would go more smoothly if they were actually there. And he knew the others should get to have the chance to say how they feel about the subject. Xavier explained to Jean and Scott that sharing a room was a big step and, that by all means, it should be taken slowly. Especially considering what Jean had endured and how hard it is going to be for her to recover. Something like that may be way too soon. 

"Jean, after you get home from school tomorrow I'll tell you if your parents can make it. I'm sure they'll be able to because I'll try to set the meeting for this weekend, unless they can come sooner. And I have another matter to speak to you about. I believe that medicine alone is not going to completely help you. It's only going to help you relax but not get to the source of the problem. So I've decided to put you through theorapy sessions with me a few days or so a week to help you recover more." Xavier stated.

"Okay. I guess this is a good idea to fill my parents in , after all they are my parents. And yeah, the others should know. " Jean said and then paused for a moment. "I also think therapy would be helpful. When do I start?" she added appearing a bit afraid of having to talk about everything that had happened to her all over again.

"That's my exact opinion on you and Scott sharing a room. And yes therapy will be very helpful and it is quite necessary. Oh and there is no need to feel scared about it, no one will let anything happen to you. And Scott can be in the room with us, only to make you feel more at ease. But to answer your question, I think the sooner the better. So what do you think about tomorrow after school? Since you'll be able to attend tomorrow." he explained.

"I know, of course. I agree, the sooner the better...um...yeah, tomorrow after school will be fine." she said with a little smile. "A lot is going on tomorrow." she added with a bit of a laugh.

"Yes, that's true. Very well then, we will discuss all of these issues tomorrow afternoon." the Professor said.

"Alright. See you later." Scott said.

"Yes and goodnight." Xavier said.

Jean walked over to Xavier's chair and hugged him like a daughter would hug her father. He returned the embrace in the same manner. She said goodnight and Scott did, too. It was now around 10pm and they needed to head off to bed. It was going to be a long, busy day.

X

It was now Monday morning and the mansion was in complete disorder, as it normally is on school days. Everyone, aside from the Professor, Jean and Scott, were in the kitchen waiting for breakfast to be ready. Jean and Scott were summoned by Professor Xavier for a brief moment. He just wanted to make sure Jean was doing well.

The young couple stood in front of Xavier's desk with their arms around one another.

"So what did you want to talk to us about?" Scott asked.

The Professor glanced at Scott then over to Jean. "Well, I just want to make sure Jean's okay and to see if the medicine helped. I suppose it did because I didn't sense anything bad last night. And I don't yet today."

Jean spoke. "I feel fine. Yeah, the medicine worked...so far so good. I slept extremely well."

"Did you remember to take it this morning?" the Professor wanted to be certain.

"Yes, I took it right after my shower." she answered.

"Great. Please be carefull at school today. Any slight bit of pressure from the other students could trigger some kind of reaction, considering the amounts of stress you've been bearing. I mean, even with the medication anything is possible when you become vulnerable. And at this point you could very well be." Xavier explained, hoping he didn't freighten Jean...or Scott.

Jean looked a bit nervous. "Yes. I'll try my hardest to stay cautious."

"Yeah, and I'll keep an eye out on her as much as possible." Scott said and he tightned his arm around her waist.

"Alright then, I suppose that will be all. You may go have breakfast. I'll see you both after school." Professor X said.

Jean and Scott nodded 'yes' and left Xavier's study to get something to eat. They were hungry and smelling the food didn't help too much. When they entered the kitchen everyone was happy to see that Jean looked a lot better, compared to how she did the day before.

The younger students were almost done eating already. Kitty and Rogue were half done. And, of course, Kurt was already finished with his breakfast. No big surprise there.

Jean just got some toast and a glass of orange juice and Scott got a bit of everything. After they got what they wanted they walked to the table and sat down. Scott went right into eating and Jean slowly ate her food.

Rogue looked at Jean. "So...ya look much better today."

"Yeah, I feel much better. The medicine the Professor gave me really helps. And I'll be taking therapy sessions with him starting after school today. I just hope I can eventually be able to move on with my life and not have to think about the past." Jean said.

"I hope the therapy helps as well." Rogue agreed.

Kitty finished her breakfast and she looked over at Jean. "Yeah, I hope it does, too. You totally have my prayers." 

Rogue and Jean stared at Kitty with a strange look and laughed.

"What? Did I, like, say something funny?" Kitty asked feeling very confused.

"Like, not really. You just talk funny." Rogue mocked.

"She's so right." Jean said in agreement.

Kitty smacked Rogue on the arm and grinned. "You are mean."

"Like, no we're not." Rogue said.

Kitty hit her again but a bit harder. "Ouch...man ya sure can get wicked." Rogue said rubbing her arm.

Jean just looked at her two friends and shook her head in amusement. The other students had already left the kitchen. Besides Scott and the three girls, Kurt was the only one remaining. He finally decided to say something.

He looked at Scott who was finishing his breakfast. "These girls are crazy. Don't you agree?"

Scott grinned and nodded 'yes'. Jean playfully smacked him on the arm. Kitty hit Kurt in the same manner as Rogue got out of her seat and walked by. When Rogue passed Kurt she ruffled his hair.

"Hey." he whined.

Now they were all finished eating and ready to go to school. Jean decided she'd ride in Scott's car so everyone that wasn't walking rode with him, too. That included Kurt, Kitty and Rogue. The other younger students that didn't attend school at the institute had already started on their way. The ones with Scott were all seated and situated. Scott and Jean looked at each other for a moment then he started up his car and began to drive off.

Jean and Scott talked among themselves as the other three did the same among one another.

"I am not ready to sit through this damn in-school. It's gonna be such a bore." Rogue groaned.

"Good luck. I've never had it so I wouldn't really know. But if it's anything like detention...I will start praying for you now." Kurt said.

"Thanks." Rogue said sarcastically.

"Yeah I wanna wish you luck, too. I've never had in-school either. But I've never had detention untill this year. And that, like, totally sucked. So this'll probably bite." Kitty said realizing that her words didn't really help the matter much.

"Oh, thanks for the words of wisdom." Rogue said with more sarcasm.

"Sorry." Kitty said with a pleading look of forgiveness in her eyes.

"It's okay sugar. Don't break down and cry already." Rogue said and she slightly grinned.

Kurt wasn't speaking at this point. He just kept staring a Kitty. His eyes didn't leave from her untill he noticed her eyes turn towards his. Rogue looked at him and thought 'Kurt's gotta big crush'.

"What? What, is my hair messed up or something?" Kitty said trying to peak into the rear view mirror. Kurt said it wasn't messed up. Kitty looked back at him feeling confused to why he was staring at her.

"It's nothing Kitty. I was just zoning out. I have a lot on my mind." Kurt said.

Finally they were at the school. They all exited the car and walked towards the building they'd prefer to not enter. Jean and Scott walked hand in hand. And the other three walked beside each other right behind.

"I'm really not ready for this." Rogue said. She's use to getting into trouble and getting detention but never in her life has she gotten into this much trouble. But if the principal wasn't such a prejudice, mutant-hating jerk she wouldn't have had inschool.

Jean and Scott heard Rogue and Scott glanced back. "At least you got it for a good reason. You stood up for a friend. Just think about that the whole time. And the same for the following days you'll spend there."

Rogue smiled softly. "Yeah, ya are right. I should think of it that way. I did the right thing."

With those last words they all entered the school. Scott stayed at Jean's side for as long as he was possibly able to. Rogue went to her locker to get some things to do during her day of in-school. Kurt and Kitty walked together and off to their own destinations.

X

Half of the school day had already passed by, amazingly quick. It was time for lunch so the hallways were filled with students and teachers. Rogue was obviously unable to join the rest of her friends due to her inschool that she was hating every moment of. The only ones who joined for lunch were Scott, Jean, Kurt and Kitty. Apparently the younger X-Men students sat somewhere else. By now they were all through the line and to their seats.

"So how has your day been?" Kitty asked Jean and Scott.

The couple looked at each other for a brief moment and then Jean spoke. "It's been okay. I haven't had many problems yet. Just the usual stares and whispers. Nothing new." she said.

"Yeah, we all get that anymore." Kurt said with a frown.

"Awww, cheer up. I know it's no fun but you gotta try to have a positive outlook." Jean said and Kurt shook his head in agreement.

"She's right fuzzy." Kitty said quietly.

Scott pretty much just sat there silently staring at his food tray. It appeared as though he were in a daze. The other three gazed at him for a second or so before Jean finally spoke up.

"What's wrong Scott? Are you feeling okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine, just thinking that I can't wait to graduate and never have to look at this stupid hell-hole of a school again." he said not looking up.

"Scott, it isn't that bad." Jean said hoping he'd smile.

"Yes it is. I hate this school." he said and he looked up at her.

"We don't have too much longer so you'll cope just fine. We have each other, and not too mention our other friends." she stated.

A slight smile finally spread across his face when he realized that she was completely right. 'How can she always stay so possitive, even in the worst of times'? he thought.

Jean looked at him for a moment and then said, "Because it's the only way to overcome most things. You can't just be all down all the time. It only makes you feel worse."

"Jean, you just had to read my mind." he joked.

"Yep." she joked back and they gazed lovingly at one another.

Kitty and Kurt looked at each other and then back to their friends who were still in the same staring mode.

"Oh my goodness, they're gonna smooch." Kitty said and then she giggled and soon Kurt was laughing, too.

"Shut up." Scott said.

After that they all began to eat their lunch. In no time lunch was over and it was time for their next class. The four friends walked together for a short while untill they had to go off. While Jean and Scott kept walking together hand in hand they saw one of Duncan's friends harrassing Taryn in the hall. There was only a few other students standing around the area but they weren't doing a damn thing to help. Scott looked at Jean and began to walk ahead of her slightly over to the location.

The boy had Taryn pinned up against the wall and it seemed he was threatening her because she was horrified. She noticed that Jean and Scott were making their way over and she was going to yell to them but the boy slapped her hard across the face.

"That's why you're in this situation . You just can't stay away from them freaks. I thought you hated Jean and all now." he said.

"Step away from her...NOW!" Scott yelled, he was standing right by them at this point.

"Are you gonna make me...freak?" Duncan's friend said mockingly.

"You bet." Scott said and he grabbed him by the arm harshly and managed to pull him away from Taryn. "Take her to the girl's room untill I'm finished with this garbage."

"Scott, don't do anything too bad. You can't afford to get into trouble now. Principal Kelly just might cost your graduation because you never know about him." Jean said hoping Scott wouldn't beat the complete crap out of that guy, although he definitely deserves it.

"Don't worry, I'm going to try to be easy." he said.

With that Jean and Taryn took off to the girl's bathroom like Scott had requested. In a couple seconds they were there and inside. Taryn was shaking and crying.

Jean put her arms around her friend and pulled her into a strong embrace. "It's okay now. Maybe you should go to the principal's office about this. You're not a mutant so he should be fair with you." Jean tried to soothe her.

"I don't know, I don't think he'll do anything but talk and then send that jerk back on his way so he can keep teasing people." Taryn cried.

Jean held her tighter and they remained silent. She didn't know what to say to that. She likes to be positive but she knew that Taryn was right. So all Jean could do was comfort her friend as good as she could and hope that Scott wasn't going to get hurt or get into trouble.

Meanwhile, Scott was hoping that he'd only have to talk to this punk but he had a feeling that it wouldn't go well that way. Duncan's friend was about as stubborn and just as much of a bully. Scott had a good idea that there was no way to get through to this creep, other than beating the crap out of him. But he didn't really want to do that, especially not in the school or anywhere near school property.

"Look freak. Why don't ya just mind your own business?" the boy said.

"Because it becomes my business when I see someone like you harrassing an innocent girl like Taryn. Sure I had some bad moments with her but I guess she was just scared to talk to me or Jean because of pricks like you." Scott stated as held his ground. Duncan's friend did nothing but glare at him.

"Normal people have no need to hang around you freaks. I was just trying to get that through to her. She's such a stupid girl." the boy said.

"We mutants are 'normal people', we just are more evolved. I don't know why everyone has to make such a big deal about it. And she is not stupid. She's allowed to like whoever she wants, you're not her boss." Scott told him feeling very uneasy.

Just then Scott heard the boy mutter something, but it was loud enough for him to hear clearly.

"What did you say!" Scott said feeling very angry. He knew what was said but he wanted to hear him say it again.

"You heard me freak. I said that your girlfriend is a whore and she deserved everything that Duncan did to her. Everything." Duncan's friend said knowing that would really piss Scott off. And he was right.

Scott was ferious. He glared at the boy and his glasses shown a rim of red. He felt like taking them off and blasting the hell out of that jerk but he decided that wouldn't be a good idea. He heard Jean's words replay in his mind. He didn't really care if he got into trouble but he surely didn't want to mess up his senior year and not graduate. He was more than happy to be leaving this school. So at first he just stood there with a murderous look upon his face. 

"One more word like that out of your mouth and you're dead." Scott said trying to stay in control.

"You mean like, Jean's a whore?" he said mockingly.

"That's it!" Scott yelled ready to pound him when all of a sudden he felt his arm move back to his side and he couldn't move a muscle. 'What the hell'? he thought. He looked back to see Jean standing about a few feet behind him.

Jean was concentrating on her powers, trying her hardest to keep Scott from killing that punk. Fortunately, for the sake of all mutants, she was able to stop him. He just looked at her as if trying to silently say he was sorry. Even though that idiot was the main cause of the incident.

Jean released her mental grip on him and motioned for him to come to her. So he did. Taryn was standing beside Jean. Duncan's friend looked a bit freightened and he just stood stiffly in the same spot. Jean glanced over at him. "So are you going to leave Taryn alone?" she asked.

He finally moved a bit towards the three but stopped at about two feet in front of them.  
He glared at Scott then looked over Taryn and then Jean. "Whatever. You freaks are a waste of my time anyway." he said then walked around them, while doing so he flipped Scott off.

Scott shot him an angry look but decided to let the creep go. He looked over to Jean. "Jean, he called you a whore and said you deserved what you got." Scott said. 

"Don't worry about it Scott. He's a creep. He's just trying to anger you so you'll get in trouble." Jean said calmly.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." he said in agreement.

"Well we had better get to class before we get too late. We're already 20 minutes late." Jean said looking at the clock in the hall.

"Yeah." Scott said.

Taryn just stood there agreeing with the two. Finally all three of them headed off to get to class. They were already late enough. And they had no passes so it would be, most definitely, marked as tardies. Jean and Scott just hoped that the rest of their day was going to go, reasonably, well. 

X: Well that was chapter 26. I hope you liked it. Obviously, it took me a long time to finish it...I apologize greatly. I'll try not to take so long on my the next chapter. It's just that so much has been going on. And I wanted to make sure the finished chapter was as good as it could possibly get. A special thank you goes out to Agent-G, I really appreciate your help:) And I also appreciate everyone else who is reading and reviewing my fic:) I just thought I'd say all of that. Anyway, that's all. I'm going to try to start working on my next chapter today. Wish me luck. 


	27. Unveiling the Burden

Finally the end of the school day has arrived and students are swarming through the halls. They all were excited that they could go home. But Rogue was probably more excited than anyone, considering she made it through her first day of in-school and she's free to do what she wants...so to speak. She met her friends where she usually meets them. And now she was heading towards her locker.

Jean and Scott decided to go ahead and walk to his car. Kurt and Kitty stayed behind with Rogue untill she got what she needed in order to go home. But she really wasn't ready to go straight home. She felt like walking home today for some odd reason. Well it's not unusual for her to want to be alone.

"What makes you want to walk?" Kitty asked raising an eyebrow at her friend.

"I've walked to school and home before. It's no big deal." Rogue stated.

"Yeah, but why do you want to today? Don't you want to just get home?" Kurt jumped in the conversation.

"I just feel like it. It's a nice day and after being cooped up in that damn in-school class I could use some time alone to think. I hated being there. Yeah, I want to get home but not yet." Rogue said feeling a bit annoyed at her friends. She just wanted some time to herself.

"Well, okay. We'll tell Jean and Scott that you're walking." Kitty said in an odd tone.

"What's wrong, Kitty? Is there some reason why I can't be alone?" Rogue asked impatiently with a hint of sarcasm.

"No. I was just hoping to talk to you some since I didn't see you today at lunch." Kitty said.

"It's not like I'm not coming home. I'll talk to you as soon as I get there sugar, I promise." Rogue said.

"Okay. See you then." Kitty said cheerfully and she quickly hugged Rogue.

Kurt just grinned at the face Rogue made when Kitty hugged her. He knew what she was thinking even without having telepathic powers. She wasn't one for mushy moments.

So soon they all said goodbye and Kitty and Kurt headed off to meet their other two friends. Rogue just walked off and sat on a bench by the school. She figured she'd just relax a few minutes or so and then she'd be on her way home.

As Kitty and Kurt made their way to the car Jean and Scott both wore an odd expression upon their face. 

"Where is Rogue? I thought she was just with you two?" Scott said feeling puzzled.

"Yeah, but she said she wanted to walk so she could think." Kurt said.

"Oh. I hope nothing's wrong." Scott said.

"No, you know Rogue, she likes her space." Kitty said.

"She is right, Scott." Jean said in agreement. "Don't worry yet." she added.

"Yeah. Okay. I guess we'll be on our way. But if she isn't home within the next hour and a half I'm going to start worrying." Scott said.

Jean glanced at him and said she agreed. Kitty and Kurt shook their heads in agreement as well. With that Scott started his car and in no time they were on their way to the institute.

Meanwhile, Rogue still sat on the bench deep in thought. Her elbows were on her knees and she rested her chin on both hands. "I can't wait to get this damn in-school week over. I can't stand it." she said to herself.

"What can't you stand freak?" came a male voice from in front of her.

'Great.' she thought. "What the hell do ya want? I'm just mindin' my own business and I'd appreciate it if ya'd do the same." she said getting irritated.

"I want to bother you. You're such a pretty little skunkie-poo." the boy said in teasing tones.

"Just leave me alone. I don't want any trouble." Rogue said trying to stay as calm as possible but she felt her temper heating up.

The boy stepped closer and stood directly in front of her and looked down on her. Rogue moved out of her relaxed position and tried to stand up but her pushed her back down against the bench. "I don't think so." he said harshly.

Rogue was getting a bit paranoid. She was about to take off on of her gloves but he grabbed both of her arms and held them down at her sides. An evil grin spread over his face.

"Leave me alone! I ain't telling ya again!" Rogue yelled and she tried to bring her knee up between his legs but he blocked her move. He then had his legs in between hers so she couldn't try to nail him again. 'Damn it!" she thought.

All of a sudden Rogue saw a flaming card come out from behind the boy somewhere. And then it exploded. She had an idea who it came from though. 

"What the hell was that?" the boy exclaimed.

"A warnin' for you to leave dat petite belle alone." came a male voice Rogue has definitely heard before. But why was helping her? He was her enemy, well the enemy to the X-Men in general.

The boy turned around and about a foot or two behind him stood a tall, quite handsome, young man with red and black eyes. Rogue looked up at the man and she definitely knew who he was. He was called Gambit and he worked for a mutant who called himself Magneto. Magneto believed that humans and mutants would never be able to live together in peace. He formed a team of his own to help enforce his theory. Gambit, too, was a mutant, of course. And due to Magneto's belief he didn't care if ordinary people saw him use his powers. Unlike the X-Men he isn't trained and advised to use his powers only if needed and only for good. 

"Who...or what the hell are you?" the boy stammered.

"I am a mutant. Do you have a problem with mutants?" Gambit said.

"So, I should have known. You're a freak, too." the boy said mockingly.

Gambit got angry at his words and stepped closer. He grabbed the boy by the collar of his shirt and lifted him off of the ground. "We are not freaks. We are different an' not to mention better. I have a little advice to give you. Don't mess with de mutants...some will mess back." Gambit said and he began to charge a card with his free hand.

Rogue jumped up. "Gambit. Don't. Just let the creep go." she said.

At this point the boy was completely terrified. He would be happy to be left go. Gambit looked at Rogue with a confused expression. "Don't you want to hurt him for teasin' you an' tryin' to hurt you?" he asked.

"No. I was only goin' to use my powers to weaken him so I could get away. It's not right to use powers to hurt people." Rogue said glaring at the Cajun.

"Fine. You're free. But remember what I said." Gambit said to her then turned his attention back to the boy.

He let the boy go and he ran off. Gambit couldn't help but grin devilishly at the boy as he fleed in freight. He was taken out of the moment by a hard hit on the arm. He turned to face Rogue.

"What was dat for? I was jus' helpin' you cherie." he said. 

"Yeah, thanks for that part. But do ya have to be so damn arrogant?" she said appearing to be upset.

Gambit looked at her in disbelief. "Is dat what you're tought, to be treated like dirt by worthless humans?"

Rogue couldn't believe the words she just heard from his mouth. That's not what she was being tought. It's far from it.

"Look swamp rat, that's not what Xavier is teachin' us. He's teachin' us to use our powers for good not bad. Apparently you don't know how to do that." she said then paused thinking he'd jump in, but he just stared at her so she went on. "It seems that Magneto is teachin' you a bunch of bull. Humans ain't worthless, they just don't understand us." she stated.

Gambit's gaze became a glare. "Whatever. Gambit did his part for now. Bonne journee cherie." his glare became a flirtatious grin as he bowed before her and turned away. He walked around the building and disappeared as quickly as he appeared leaving Rogue alone.

X

At the institute Scott, Jean, Kitty and Kurt had already arrived. Once inside Kitty and Kurt went upstairs to do their homework together and Jean and Scott headed straight for Professor Xavier's study.

Xavier was behind his desk waiting for Jean and Scott. He had contacted Jean's parents so he wanted to inform her on that before starting her therapy session. Just as he was caught up in his thoughts he sensed two presences on the opposite side of the door. He automatically knew who they were.

Professor X glanced up at the door. "You may come in." he said calmly as he folded his hands together as he always does.

The door then opened. Jean came in first and Scott followed close behind. He closed the door because he knew that anything discussed today was private, especially things dealing with Jean's therapy. At least at this moment. The two walked over and sat down in two chairs in front of the Professor's desk.

"Good afternoon you two. Jean, I have called your parents and spoken with your mother. I have explained to her the idea of you and Scott sharing a room. She said she'll speak to your father and that they can fly here this weekend, along with your sister of course. She said they'll most likely be able to get her by late afternoon on Friday." Xavier explained, hoping to be thourough enough.

Jean seemed to be excited that she would be able to see her parents and sister again. "That's great." she exclaimed with a big smile.

"Yes, I assumed you'd feel that way. Okay, now that I've informed you of that matter I think we should start on your therapy session." Professor X stated and he could see Jean tense up and he also could sense the terror building up within her. "You'll be fine, Jean. Not I, nor Scott, will allow anything bad to happen to you. You must trust me." he explained in comforting tones.

Jean nodded in agreement. She knew the Professor was right. She looked over at Scott who grabbed her hand and gently squeezed it. She smiled and then looked back at Xavier. "Alright. I'm ready." she said still feeling a bit tense.

Professor X could still sense her fear but he knew she'd be as strong as she possibly could. He had much faith in her. "Now, try to stay as calm and relaxed as possible. This is no doubt going to be hard, although it is something that must be done. But, by all means, we can take these sessions at a slow steady, pace. And if you need for me to stop questioning you or if you are having difficulty during this discussion feel free to say so. We can then take a break untill you're ready to continue." he said, hoping she'd loosen up some and it appeared his words did help a bit and she nodded her head up and down.

When Xavier felt Jean was as ready as she was ever going to be, he asked her to start from the very beginning. Way back to when her and Duncan first began to date and while they had dated. Jean closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. Once she exhaled she opened her eyes and started to speak about the horrid past she had with Duncan.

X

Rogue had just arrived, she entered the mansion and made her way into the foyer. She was still in somewhat of a shock from her encounter with Gambit. She is having so many mixed feelings about him and she has no idea why. Rogue's irritated by his arrogance but intrigued by his charm. She finds these strange, new feelings nearly incomprehensible. But she can't allow him to figure out how she truly feels for him. "No way. I ain't gonna be that easy or obvious." she said to herself. Though she is quite happy he came to her defense and helped her get that moron off her case.

Finally Rogue went further into the institute. She decided that since she had promised to speak to Kitty as soon as she got home that that would be the first thing she did. So she thought to check the rec room first. She has a pretty good idea that she'll be doing her homework with Kurt, as usual, but she's not sure exactly where.

Rogue entered the rec room but no one, aside from Logan, was in there. He was reading a newspaper, as usual, but she figured it wouldn't hurt too much to ask him one simple question. So she went ahead and took her chances and asked him if he saw Kitty or even Kurt.

"Yeah, I saw them both. They came home close to 40 minutes ago. I think Kitty said they were going upstairs to work on their homework." Logan answered only glancing up to give her a brief look and then he went back to his paper.

"Um, okay. Thanks." she said with a hint of a smile.

"No problem stripes." he said in a slightly gruff tone.

Rogue then left the rec room and headed upstairs. She had a feeling that Kitty would be with Kurt in his room, so she went towards the boy's dorms first. When she stepped in front of Kurt's door she paused a moment when she heard Kitty giggle. Then finally she knocked.

"Who is it!" Kurt asked loudly.

"It me, Rogue! I just heard Kitty laugh, so I reckon she's in there with ya! Can I come in!" Rogue yelled to him.

"Yeah she's here and sure you can come in. We were just doing our homework but we took a break and I was picking on her!" he shouted her an answer.

"Oh okay." she said after she opened the door and stepped inside.

"Like, what's up Rogue?" Kitty finally chimed in.

"Um, ya wanted to talk to me. Remember?" Rogue said to her best friend.

"Yeah. If you go wait in our room I'll be over in a little bit, okay." Kitty said back.

"Okay." Rogue agreed.

Kurt looked a little confused. "Uh, why can't you talk now?" he asked in puzzlement.

Kitty glanced at him. "Well it's more of a girl thing. You'll know what we talk about at some point." she said. She couldn't tell him what she had to talk to Rogue about. It had to deal with feelings she's been having for him and she's not sure about them. She just needs to talk to Rogue. But she was honest, he would know about it sometime when the timing is right.

Kurt shook his head in agreement. He knew she'd fill him in because he, too, is her best friend. 'How lucky am I to have two best friends...a girl and a guy?' Kitty thought. 

"Rogue, as soon as we finish our homework I'll be over. And that shouldn't be too much longer." Kitty stated.

"Well then, see ya in a little bit sugar." Rogue told her. "See ya Kurt." she added. 

They all said goodbye for that moment. Rogue turned around and left Kurt's room and closed the door. She then headed towards the girl's dorms. She walked untill she reached her's and Kitty's room and she entered the room closing the door behind her. She went to her bed, laid down and stretched out across it.

X

A few hours had passed now and Jean had just finished telling Xavier everything about when her and Duncan were together. Scott had already heard it before because Jean knew she couldn't hide it from him. But it still made him angry and sad all at once. Jean had explained how Duncan had verbally and, pretty much, sexually abused her when they dated. He had threatened to make her life a living hell if she did not do as he commanded and many of his commands were involving something sexual. She listened to him because she knew he could ruin her since he was a big shot football player. So she did it out of fear knowing he'd make everyone hate her and she didn't need that. Jean said she wishes she had never dated him in the first place. She never even knew real, true love untill now with Scott. He never once asked her for anything sexual. He's just happy with kissing, cuddling and just being together. The Professor couldn't understand how anyone could treat another person with such disrespect, but then again, that was Duncan. He had no idea that she had born so much. 'What a truly demented young man.' Xavier thought.

At this point Scott had moved his chair as close to Jean's as possible. He had his right arm around her as he held her hand with his left hand. Jean appeared to be on the verge of a breakdown now. She was so rattled from what she had confessed to the Professor and she was almost in tears. But she held back.

Xavier sensed her fear and pain and he decided to conclude the therapy session for that day. He knew she wasn't stable enough to go any further even if she pretended to be. And considering the next part of their discussion my deal with her attack he definitely knew that would be too far for now.

"Jean, I'm sorry that this reopened wounds that haven't even completely healed yet. But you've done quite well. Your therapy session is over for today. Please go upstairs and try to relax and unwind a bit before dinner." Professor X stated sympathetically.

Jean nodded 'yes' and she got up and walked over to the Professor. She hugged him and he returned her embrace, of course. Scott got up and soon Jean went back over to him. They all said goodbye for now and Xavier watched them exit his study. Scott had his arm firmly around Jean.

Jean and Scott headed upstairs to her room. All the way she still kept holding back the tears swelled up in her eyes that would burst at any given moment. Once they reached her room and went inside Scott closed the door. They walked to her bed and sat on the edge, neither saying a word. Their facial expressions spoke enough. He held her tight and close in his arms and she tightened her embrace on him as well. She then buried her face in his chest and began to bawl. He knew that was coming soon. He stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head as he slowly rocked her in his arms. 


	28. Matters of the Heart

In Kurt's room he and Kitty have just finished doing their homework. It was a lot of work and they were both exhausted from it. Kitty decided she should leave soon and head to her's and Rogue's room so she could talk to Rogue. She really needed to get some things out. 

"Well Kurt, thanks a lot for doing your homework with me. It made it more interesting. It's boring to do it alone." Kitty said as she gathered up her books and grabbed her pen.

"Yeah, you're welcome. I sure is boring alone. You know, you don't have to thank me everytime we do this." Kurt said to her.

"I know, I just do. Habbit I guess." she told him truthfully.

"Yeah. Well I suppose you should be going so you can talk to Rogue before dinner." he said.

"Yep. So I'll see you then." she said and she hugged him and gave him a friendly peck on the cheek. He returned the hug but began to blush from the kiss, even though it was really nothing.

Kitty giggled softly to herself when she noticed the slight purplish shade on his cheek. He said goodbye to her and she turned around to exit his room. She didn't even bother opening the door, she just phased through it.

Kitty walked down the hall and towards her's and Rogue's room. Once there she just phased through their door, too. On the other side Rogue was still stretched out over her bed and it appeared she dozed off. Kitty didn't want to wake her because she seemed to be having a very pleasant dream from the expression upon her face, but she had to so she could speak with her and plus dinner would be ready soon.

Kitty went to her own bed first and laid her books in the middle. Then she walked over to Rogue's bed, place her hand on her arm and softly shook her. Rogue must have been really out because she didn't even make a slight bit of movement, besides her chest rising and falling from her steady breathing. 

"Come on." Kitty said to herself and then she shook Rogue again, but this time a bit harder. 

Rogue jumped up. "What's goin' on?" she gasped and then she realized that Kitty was beside her bed standing over her. "Oh, I guess you're done with your homework. Man, I musta fell asleep. Ya really startled me sugar." she told Kitty.

"Sorry. I, like, didn't mean to. I just want to talk to you badly and dinner'll be done anytime soon." Kitty stated and she sat down on Rogue's bed.

Rogue sat up and moved her body so that she was seated right beside Kitty on the edge of the bed. "So...what's up?" Rogue asked.

"Well, you have to promise to not say a word to anyone. I'm not ready to have this in the open yet because it's only feelings and I'm not sure exactly what they are yet. Honestly, I'm not sure of anything yet." Kitty said and then she turned her face towards Rogue who was gazing at her.

"Okay, whatever ya tell me in this room stays in this room. I promise." Rogue said and she made an X over her heart.

Kitty nodded and began to speak. "Alright. You know how Kurt and I have been spending a lot of time together?" Rogue shook her head up and down. "Well, I think I might be falling for him." 

Rogue's mouth dropped open. "Oh my God. I knew it." she said with a grin.

Kitty made a silly face at Rogue and then went on. "But anyway, I'm not positive but I know I've been having odd feelings for him that I've never felt...ever. I mean, I enjoy just having his company. And it doesn't matter what we're doing. We could be just staring at a wall and I'd be happy." Kitty said.

Rogue laughed. "Well, there's definitely something there. I really don't know what to tell ya though. Um...how do ya feel when ya see him?" Rogue said.

Kitty closed her eyes for a brief second and then opened them. "I feel weird. Sometimes it's as if I can't catch my breath. I feel like my heart's going to leap out of my chest. And...also I get this strange sick feeling in my stomach...almost like I'm going to puke but I don't. And the feeling is nice." she explained and she felt odd just thinking about him.

The two girls sat there quietly for a moment. Kitty was studying the expression on Rogue's face. 'I guess she's thinking or something.' Kitty thought.

Finally Rogue spoke. "It seems that ya may be in love with him. Ya have all the symptoms. What else could it be?" she told her friend.

"Should I tell him?" Kitty questioned.

"Not yet. It could be horribly embarressing if he doesn't feel the same. I've never actually been in love but I had a deep crush on someone, of course ya probably know who that was." Rogue said and Kitty shook her head in agreement. "Listen, maybe I'll have a little talk with Kurt and see if he has any feelings towards you. That could be a start. And if he even has a slight feeling ya could tell him how ya feel." she suggested.

"That would be great! I'd really appreciate it, too." Kitty exclaimed happily and she threw her arms around Rogue. Rogue decided to be nice and return the embrace.

"I'll see if I can talk to him after dinner, okay sugar." Rogue said after they pulled away from each other.

"Sure. Thanks." Kitty said sounding very excited and then she looked at Rogue and made a funny face. "Oh and is there something you should be telling me?" 

Rogue raised an eyebrow and appeared to be quite confused at the questioned. "Uh...um...what do ya mean? What is there that I'd possibly have to tell ya that ya don't already know?" she asked and her voice sounded just as puzzled as the look on her face.

Kitty giggled. "Well you were having a very nice dream when I came in here and woke you up. I really didn't want to desturb you but I had to. You seemed to be in complete bliss. And you mumbled a name but I wasn't sure what it was." she said smiling widely.

"Yeah, I was. But it was just a dream." Rogue said feeling a slight bit embarressed because she knew exactly what the dream was and the name she had said. 'It wasn't an erotic dream but it was romantic.' Rogue thought but was snapped out of that thought when Kitty laughed at her. "What?" she said.

"Nothing. I know you'll eventually tell me because you always do. I think we should head downstairs and get ready for dinner." Kitty said.

Rogue agreed with her. The two friends left the room. Kitty phased them both through the door. She just didn't feel like opening the doors today.

X

Over in Jean's room she and Scott were just sitting on her bed talking. She had calmed down a lot now, thanks to how much of a loving person Scott is. She thinks everything went too fast that day. She shouldn't have pushed herself to explain more than she really needed to at one time. Her past with her ex was just too damn painful. She really didn't even want to ever talk about it again but she had to tell Scott when they got together. He needed to know. But no one else did then or does now. Although, she knows the that best way to get over something that painful is to get it out. It's no good to bottle up any kind of feelings because one day they will come out.

Jean looked up at Scott. "Are you ready to go down to dinner? I think I am." she said.

"I am, but are you sure you're ready? You were really shook up earlier." Scott said with concern.

"Yeah, I'm okay now. I'm still a bit uneasy but I feel well enough to eat. Plus I am starving right now." she stated.

"Alright then. We might as well go down now." he said and they both got up.

Jean grabbed Scott's hand and held it tightly in her own. She twined her fingers with his. He smiled at her and she smiled back. They shared a short but romantic kiss and then left the room hand in hand.

X

After dinner was over most of the younger students went either upstairs or outside. Kitty, Rogue and Kurt all headed upstairs. And Jean and Scott were about to go up to her room to chill when Xavier called upon them. He just wanted to speak with them.

"Yes Professor." Scott said. "Is everything okay?" he added.

"Yes Scott. I was just wondering how Jean's feeling." Professor X answered Scott and then turned his gaze over to Jean, who was standing right beside Scott.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Still a little shaken but fine." Jean said.

"I'm glad to hear that because you were a mess earlier, even if you tried to deny you were, I know. I could sense everything. But I just want to say, you did not have to say so much at one time. I'm here to help you and it doesn't matter how long it takes, I'm happy to be of assistance to you. So the next time we have a session take your time and hopefully that will help you to avoid being as close to a breakdown as you were earlier today." The Professor stated.

"Yes, I know. I just wanted to get it out. I mean, I didn't really want to talk about it again but I needed to. I figured if I told you everything that happened when Duncan and I were together that it would be easier. But I was wrong. I should have broken it up some." Jean said.

"Very true. You do need to get those feelings out so that you can eventually heal the pain. But, of course, that will take time. So yes, you should have taken it slower. But at least you were able to explain what happened." Xavier said to her.

"I'm not sure I can talk about the attack though. That is going to be almost impossible." she said feeling really nervous and terrified of reliving that again. It was bad enough in court. And no matter how many times she spoke of it, it didn't get any better. She still felt like she was being hurt all over again and she thinks she'll never be able to dull the pain. 'But I have to. I can't keep living like this. I want my life back. I want to someday be able to go to the next level with Scott. And also someday, far beyond that, I would like to marry him and have children with him.' she thought.

The Professor picked up on her thoughts, but not on purpose. They were just so strong. And it seems as though Scott did as well because he glanced at Jean and grabbed her hand and squeezed it gently.

Xaver finally spoke to her. "I know it's going to be extremely hard for you. And it may seem impossible to ever put this behind you, or at least to the deepest part of you mind, because emotional wounds are the hardest to heal. Sometimes it takes months or years, depending on what the cause was. But other times it could take a lifetime. Although, the first step to getting through this is by talking about it. Even if it is nearly unbearable. It's for the best. Especially if you want to move on, as you do." he explained in comforting tones.

Jean nodded 'yes' because she knew that he was completely right. He always is. And she knows that she has so many people who are there for her. She has everyone at the mansion plus her parents and sister. They all love her very much and would never allow anyone to hurt her as long as they were around and could stop it. Jean looked at the Professor. "Yeah. Everything you've said is so very true. But I'm definitely taking my time on the details of the attack. I can't go through it as quickly. And that's the biggest wound. But when should we get together again?" she said nervously.

"I don't expect you to rush. I never did. Take as much time as you need. And to answer you question, whenever you feel you are ready to discuss what happened. You need to feel calm and be as relaxed as possible. So just let me know. I'm always here." he told her.

"Okay. I will." she walked over and gave him a quick hug. He was like a second father to her.

After that the Professor told Jean and Scott that he'd talk to them later. And they said the same to him. Jean and Scott then went up to her room to hang out and talk about some things.

X

Kitty, Rogue and Kurt were all in his room talking. They've been doing so since they got upstairs. Rogue still wanted to talk to Kurt and see if he had any feelings towards Kitty. 'I did promise.' she thought. So soon Kitty said she wanted to go over to their room and rest a bit.

"See you later." Kitty said to both Rogue and Kurt and they said the same. She then walked out of his room, but this time the door was still open so she didn't have to do anything.

After Kitty left Rogue went over and shut the door. She then walked over to Kurt who had sat on his bed. She asked if it was okay for her to sit down with him and he said he didn't mind. But he wondered why she had shut his door.

"So Rogue, why'd you close the door?" Kurt asked and he tilted his head to one side and wore a confused look on his face.

"Well, I just wanted to talk to ya privately. And ya know how some of those younger kids can be very nosy." Rogue told him.

"True. So what's so private?" he said still confused.

"Um, I was wondering if ya have any feelings for Kitty. Ya know, like if ya have a crush on her or...just anything. Do ya?" she asked.

Kurt remained silent for a few moments. Rogue had an idea that he had some kind of feeling because his cheeks turned a bit purple so she knew he was blushing. Soon he looked at her but he appeared to be confused. He was kind of having mixed feelings some for Kitty, ones he always seemed to have since he got to know her. The other feelings were for Amanda. He missed her and stilled loved her but had a feeling he'd never see her again. Rogue knew all of that about Amanda. But still, even if Kurt was in love with Kitty he couldn't truly let it happen. He didn't want to move on yet untill he found out if there was any hope for him and Amanda. She had promised she'd get in touch with him but it's been so long. He was stuck.

"Well Rogue, the truth is that I'm not sure what I feel. I still love Amanda, as you know. And untill I know what the future has for her and I...I'm afraid I can't let anyone else in. But I do have feelings for Kitty. I have had a crush on her since I met her. But that crush got a bit deeper as I got to know her. It could be love. I'm not sure. She never seemed to feel quite the same. We joke around a lot but that's all. I don't believe she feels anything for me. We'll probably never be anything more than what we are right now, best friends." Kurt said and he felt sad and Rogue could see the hurt in his eyes.

"Wow, that's deep. But I completely understand not being with anyone else yet. Although, ya can't wait the rest of you life for Amanda." Rogue said hoping to be helpful.

"I know. But I have to wait a while longer to be sure. I just want to know she's okay. And if Amanda and I will only wind up being close friends then that's fine, it will hurt though. I just have to know first." he told her and he looked like he was going to cry.

An sympathetic expression came over Rogue's face. "I definitely understand. There's no harm in wanting to know and waiting. But you do love Kitty, am I right or wrong?" she said with the same look on her face.

"Rogue, yes. I think I'm in love with her. But don't say anything. You have to promise me." he told his sister. "You must." he added and he grabbed one of her gloved hands and held it in his.

"Don't worry sugar, my lips are sealed." she said placing her other hand on top of his.

Kurt still looked very sad though. Rogue's never seen him this sad...ever. They moved there hands away from each other in a few seconds or so. But she reached out to hug him because even though she wasn't too fond of hugs she knew he definitely needed one. She pulled him close and he threw his arms around her and rested his head just below her collarbone. She knew he was very sad, there was no doubt. So she slightly rocked him back and forth the way a mother would to her son. It was just an automatic reaction to the situation. 

'This has gotta be so hard on him.' Rogue thought and she laid her head on top of his. All she could do now was think about how he may be when he's alone. 'Does he cry at night thinkin' about all of this? Or does he just hold it all in?' she thought. Well either way it was a huge strain on him and she just hopes that someday it will all be better. 


	29. Mixed Up Emotions

A few days had passed by and it is now Friday. The school day has ended already and Jean and Scott are excited to get back to the institute. Her parents and sister should either be there by now or on their way. But most likely they'd be there. She was hoping and so was Scott.

Scott and Jean had waited in his car for Rogue, Kitty and Kurt. The others always walked, at least most of the time. Jean and Scott couldn't wait until their three friends made it to the car so they could be on their way.

"Scott, I really hope they hurry." Jean said as she looked at him.

"Yeah, me, too. But it takes a little time for Rogue now since she has to come all the way from the in-school room way to her locker. And Kitty and Kurt wait for her. But they should be here sometime soon hon." Scott said and he was looking at her through his glasses.

"True. I'm just so excited to get home I guess." she said smiling.

"I know, so am I. But we have to be patient." he told her smiling back and then he leaned over the seat and gave her a nice kiss.

Just then their friends arrived and they pulled apart. Rogue didn't say anything at all about them kissing. But Kitty and Kurt made up for that.

Kurt whistled at them. "Ooh baby, tonsil hockey." he teased.

Kitty laughed. "Yeah, like, they were digging deep." she teased, too.

"Shut up you two." Jean said jokingly.

"Someday you'll be doing that. Believe me. If you haven't already." Scott joked but his face was red.

Kitty and Kurt were laughing their heads off as they got into the car and sat down, with Kurt in the middle, but Rogue just got into the car and sat at the end of the seat that remained. She did smile a bit though that was all. She had other things on her mind or should I say she had someone else on her mind. She was thinking about walking again in hopes of running into Gambit once more, but she decided not to today. She thought that it would be nearly impossible to run into him two days in a row right after school. She was lost in a wonderful daydream. Kurt and Kitty finally calmed down and were chatting with each other. And up in the front seat Jean and Scott talked amongst themselves as he started up his car and began to drive off. They were excited to be heading home. Even though Rogue was daydreaming, Kitty and Kurt were talking and goofing around and Jean and Scott were carrying their own little conversation, they all had one thing in common right at this moment...they were all happy that it was the weekend.

"So Scott, are you nervous about my parents being there?" Jean asked.

"A little. I don't know why though. It's not like I've never met them before. And they're wonderful people, so is you sister, but she doesn't bother me." Scott answered.

"I guess it's just one of them things. But you'll be fine." she told him.

"Yeah, I know." he said to her.

They were almost at the mansion now. Jean and Scott continued to talk to each other. Rogue was still in her daydreaming mode. Kitty and Kurt finally realized that she was staring into space.

"Hey, Rogue. Are you with us?" Kurt asked as he tapped her on the shoulder. Kitty giggled softly.

Rogue gasped. "What?"

"Earth to Rogue." Kitty joked.

"Sorry, I just have somethin' on my mind." Rogue said and a hint of a smile spread across her face. 'Or someone.' she thought.

"Okay. Well, it must be good." Kurt said smiling.

"Yeah, it must be." Kitty agreed with him and a smile was on her face, too.

"It is. But don't even ask me what it is 'cause it's non of your business." Rogue snapped, but not sounding mean. She just spoke quick hoping that they wouldn't ask.

Kitty and Kurt both shook their heads 'no' agreeing that it wasn't their business. Although, they did wonder but they definitely didn't want to intrude on what Rogue was thinking. Apparently it was personal.

Soon everyone arrived at the mansion. The group split up. Jean and Scott went straight on to find Professor X and Kitty, Kurt and Rogue all three headed upstairs together but broke apart up there. Kurt went to his room and the two s went to their room. He wanted to be alone for a while and Rogue had to speak to Kitty...privately. She couldn't keep her dreams hidden forever, especially when she shared a room with Kitty. Plus Kitty is her best friend. 'She tells me everything so I should at least open up more to her.' Rogue thought.

X

Jean and Scott were at Xavier's study now. He told them to come in and so they did. They were both happy when they entered the room but Jean was the happiest. Her father, mother and sister were all in the room sitting down. Jean ran over to her family and gave them each a hug and kiss.

"I am so glad to see you all." she exclaimed. "I knew you'd be here today but I wasn't sure when." she added just as excited.

"We are very happy to be here honey." said Jean's mother, Elaine.

Jean's father, Jonathon, glanced over at Scott who seemed to be slacking off some. He was still standing where Jean had left him but he wasn't really making any attempts of coming into the room any further. Jonathon then looked over to the Professor and back at Scott. "Don't be shy. You could very well be part of the family someday. And even though you and Jean aren't married or anything yet I consider you part of the family anyhow. You are always there for her, no matter what. So feel free to join us Mr. Summers." he said to Scott.

Scott felt kind of odd but he figured he probably should. He just never gets used to all of the family stuff. Even though he's hung with his brother a lot in the last couple of years he doesn't really know how to act around parents. He ends up freezing but he just smiled warmly and walked over towards everyone. Jean moved away from her family and went back to Scott.

"Yeah, someday you'll be my husband. Loosen up some." Jean told him with a smile.

"You're so right hon." Scott said to her and he returned her smile.

They both went over and took seats by her parents. Scott still felt a tad bit nervous but he was starting to feel less awkward.

Xavier looked over to Jean's sister, Sara, and then to Jean. "Jean, is Sara to be staying in your room this time or should I place her with someone else?" he asked. He knew how her and Scott have been spending the nights in her room and he was sure how she'd act without having him with her for a couple nights.

"Um, well...I'm not sure. I don't think I could sleep without Scott with me." Jean answered feeling kind of bad because Sara seemed so excited to room with her again.

"My thoughts exactly." he stated.

Jean looked at Sara who appeared to be slightly disappointed. "I'm sorry sweetheart. I just haven't slept without Scott since...well you know...since what happened to me. I don't think I could bear not having him with me. Is there anyone else you'd like to share a room with this weekend?" Jean told her feeling horrible.

"It's okay. I understand. I have no idea who to stay with though. I really don't know everyone all that well." Sara said honestly.

"Hmmm, there's some s here around your age. I don't think they'd have a problem with you bunking with them." Jean told her and she smiled.

Sara agreed with Jean and smiled back. She wouldn't mind staying with someone else because she truly does understand that Jean would rather have Scott with her. And maybe she'll get to know the younger s a bit more over the weekend. Who knows.

Xavier summoned Ororo and asked her to come to his study for a moment. Within a few minutes she arrived. She knew Jean's family was coming this weekend but she didn't really know what why yet.

"What is it?" Ororo asked kindly.

"Well, I was just wondering if it would be a problem to help her find a place to room this weekend? I was thinking of maybe placing her with Jubilee and Rahne, since they're all around the same age." the Professor said as he folded his hands together in his usual manner.

"Oh, sure Charles. It won't be a problem." she said with a warm smile.

"Wonderful." he said to her then he looked at Sara. "Are you okay with this?" he asked just to make sure he didn't upset anyone.

"It's fine. I'm kind of excited to share a room with them two this weekend. I met them before and they're pretty cool. Although, Jubilee's a little on the crazy side but it's all good." Sara said smiling and everyone gave a little laugh, especially the ones who lived there and knew how some of the students were.

"I'm glad you're okay with everything." he told her and he returned his attention to Storm. "Well, you know what to do from here." he said.

She shook her head up and down. "Come on honey, I'll show you where you'll be staying." she said and she motioned for Sara to come over to her.

Sara hugged her parents and Jean. And she even hugged Scott and then the Professor. She figured they're all pretty much family so why not. Then she walked over to Ororo. And once Sara got over there Ororo placed her arm around the young and closed the door with her free hand and the two left the room.

Professor X glanced from Jean's parents to her and Scott. Jean and Scott appeared to be a tad bit nervous. Her parents seemed to be fine. "Alright, I suppose we should get down to business." he finally said and he turned his gaze to Elaine and Jonathon. "You two have already been informed on what we are to discuss today when I called you. But I want to allow Jean and Scott to voice their reason for wanting to share a room before you give your opinion. Just so they feel heard."

Elaine shook her head and agreement but Jonathon spoke. "Yes, that seems fair." he said. Then everyone placed their attention on the young couple.

Jean did most of the talking. She explained how ever since her attack that Scott has slept in her room with her. And now she's not use to him not being there beside to hold. She said that she figures it would be too big of a problem if they shared a room since they already sleep in the same room anyway. All Scott did was place in his opinion were it fit because he feels the same way.

Jean's parents looked at each other and they understood the reason, as the Professor did, but also think it's too soon for the young couple to actually move into a room together. They think there should be more time. Especially considering how Jean is still battling problems from her attack it may definitely be pushing it to share a room this soon. So Jean and Scott are out numbered by the older s who are definitely much wiser.

"Jean, do you understand why we think it's too soon honey?" Elaine asked her daughter and she glanced over to Scott incase he wanted to say something.

"Yeah. Maybe we should wait. At least until we graduate and all." Jean said feeling a bit down but she truly did understand.

Scott looked at Jean and then to her mother. "Waiting can't be too bad. And it's not like I'm going anywhere." he said and he looked back at Jean and smiled. She smiled back.

"And considering the fact that you are still trying to recover from what had happened to you, Jean, it's best to hold this off. I'm sure we've all voiced our opinions enough now on this subject. I'm just glad you two understand why it's important to wait. You're still quite young. And by all means, a step this big should be gradually taken." Professor X stated.

Jean and Scott both shook their heads in agreement. They were a little disappointed but truly knew it was for their own good. They had all the time in the world. And even if they didn't share a room they could still be together as much as they wanted.

Jonathon looked at them. "I really hope you're both okay with this decision. It's the best thing for now. It would only complicate things more than they already are." he said.

"I know. The decision is fine." Jean said.

"Good. I'm glad we came to a conclusion. Elaine and Jonathon, I will show you to a room. Jean and Scott, you two are free to go. If either of you have anything else to say about this discussion feel free to speak up. We'd be more than happy to be of any help to you." Xavier said as he wheeled himself out of his study.

Elaine and Jonathon followed him. Jean and Scott walked out behind them hand in hand. They thought they'd head upstairs and take a nap together. It's been a long, exhausting day.

Upstairs in Jean's room her and Scott had laid down to relax and take a little nap. They hope that no one will bother them because they could use a little rest. It's hard to be alone in the mansion though.

Ororo had already placed Sara with Jubilee and Rahne. She figures that they should get along well, considering they're pretty much the same age. They are young teenagers. Storm had left the three alone to talk and she went off to be alone for a while. After teaching nearly all day she could definitely use some time to herself.

In Jubilee's and Rahne's room they all chatted. They seemed to be getting along rather well. Sara was happy to stay with them for the weekend.

"Too bad you're not a mutant because you could live here and bunk with us." Jubilee said happily.

"Yeah." Rahne agreed. "That would be very nice." she added.

"Sometimes I wish I was. I think it would be cool to have powers. I just don't know what I'd like to have. There's so many good ones." Sara said with a smile.

"That is true. But sometimes it sucks to be like this because of how other people treat us. They act like we're diseased or possessed by the devil or something like that." Jubilee said with a disgusted look upon her face.

"Yes, sometimes I feel that I'd rather be a normal person. It's great at times to have powers but most others think we're freaks." Rahne said and a similar expression came over her face.

"Other people are just too ignorant. Well most of them. I for one don't think any of you are freaks. And you are normal...you're just different." Sara said honestly.

Rahne and Jubilee glanced at each other then back to Sara. They both appeared to be thinking the same thing but only Rahne spoke. "Yeah but, if your sister wasn't a mutant would you still feel the same way?" she asked not sure what the answer would be.

"I would like to think so. I wasn't raised to judge people. I like someone because of who they are not what they are or how they look. That's what Jean and I were both taught. So, yeah, I would feel the same even if Jean weren't a mutant. But if she wasn't I wouldn't have met you two or anyone here, so I'm glad she is one. You're all so nice." Sara said truthfully.

Rahne smiled and so did Jubilee. They just kept talking. It was like they may never run out of things to say.

X

In Rogue's and Kitty's room they two friends talked. Kitty was trying to find out some things from Rogue. Like what she was dreaming about and what took her so long to get home from school the day before. Rogue had said she'd tell her so she wanted to know.

"Come on Kitty. I'm not ready to talk about that quite yet." Rogue said.

"Oh why not? I'm dying to find out. And you know I am." Kitty said back.

"Of course ya are. But I don't wanna tell ya now. Sorry sugar but you'll know when the time is right." Rogue stated.

"Fine. But you better not wait a long time. It must be something really juicy." Kitty teased.

Rogue threw her pillow across the room at Kitty who was sitting on her bed. "Ya better shut up ."

"It is! Oh my god! I bet it's something to do with your dream lover...Mr. Remy Lebeau." Kitty teased more and began to giggle.

"That's it. You're gonna get it." Rogue joked and she got up and went over to Kitty.

As the two friends goofed around there was a knock at the door. They stopped and looked at each other.

"Um, who is it?" Rogue spoke up.

"It's me." came a voice from the other side.

"Come in Kurt." Kitty said loudly.

Kurt opened the door and walked in. "Guess what!" he said.

Rogue and Kitty looked away from him and to each other then back to him. "What?" they both asked.

"I got a letter from Amanda! She told me we can email each other so her parents don't know. So she gave me her email address. And also she has a cell phone now and she gave her number so we can talk now and then." he told them excitedly.

Rogue looked very happy for him. Kitty did, too, but all of a sudden her expression changed. She realized that he and Amanda might get back together. Sure she was happy for them but she is devastated because she loves him more than she ever really imagined she could.

Kurt noticed Kitty's sudden change of expression and remembered the talk he and Rogue had. 'Oops...I'm such an idiot' he thought. He quickly searched for something to say to make her feel a bit better. He wasn't sure if they'd actually get back together. They may just be friends, which was good enough for him. They did love each other still but it could be impossible to be together. He's mainly just happy to hear from her. Finally something came to him. "Well we may just be friends since she isn't allowed around me. And it's going to be very difficult to have a relationship where you can't be with the person you're dating." he said.

Rogue realized why Kurt said that and she looked at Kitty whose expression became less sorrowful. He did have feelings for Kitty but he's not sure about them. But he doesn't want to hurt her either.

X

Well there it was...finally. I hope to not take quite as long on the next chapter. Wish me luck. I hope you liked this one. You know what to do.


	30. Love and Feelings

Saturday morning has arrived and all the students had been up early for a Logan session. Such fun. Now everyone is in the kitchen getting breakfast. Jean and Scott sat with her parents. Rogue, Kitty and Kurt sat together. The younger students all sat with each other and that includes Sara. Last but not least, Professor X, Hank and Ororo all sat together and Logan sat by himself reading the newspaper.

The kitchen was quite crowded, as usual. From time to time Logan would glance up from his paper and gaze at Ororo who had no idea he was watching her. She turned her head to look at him and he quickly pretended he wasn't staring. Now she glanced at him a bit but not as thoroughly. She turned her attention back to the Professor and Hank.

Jean and Scott were talking with her parents. Scott was finally feeling less awkward around them. So he's being less shy and to himself.

"So you're all leaving tomorrow afternoon?" Scott asked feeling a bit upset.

"Yes, I'm afraid so." Jonathan said.

Jean made a sad face. "Too bad you can't stay longer." she said.

"Sorry honey but you know we're very busy. We have to get back to work and Sara has school." Elaine told her daughter sympathetically.

Jean nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we're pretty busy here, too. If you thought today was crazy, you should be here during the weekdays when there's school. It's chaotic."

Jonathan looked over at Jean. "I'm sure it is. There's a lot of students here."

Scott and Jean looked at each other for a moment and smiled. They wanted to spend some of that day together but they decided to spend it with her parents since they don't always see them. They looked away from each other.

"By the way, what are you planning to do after high school, Scott?" Jonathan asked.

"Well, I'm not sure. I might just stay here and help with the younger students. I'm sure the others could use some extra help. I really don't know what else to do." Scott told him.

"That's good. I know Jean's planning on going to college. Hopefully it's not too far away." Jonathan said.

Scott looked at Jean as she began to speak. "Yeah, I am. I hope not either. I'm going to try to get into N.Y.U. I hope I'm excepted and that they teach what I'm going it for. I really don't want to move and have to miss everyone." she said.

Scott placed his arm around her waist. "But you have to do what you have to do." he said with a sorrowful expression.

"Let's talk about something happier." Elaine quickly broke in.

They all agreed to that. None of them wanted to think of Jean moving far away. Not even Jean herself.

Where Kitty, Kurt and Rogue sat Kitty was picking on Rogue again about her dreams. She had another steamy dream last night and Kitty just couldn't get over the expressions Rogue made or the noises she made. The noises were new to last night though. The three friends had finished their breakfast and were just sitting together at this point.

"Shut up Kitty." Rogue said. Kurt sat there laughing at them. "You too fur ball." she added.

"Sorry sis. It's just funny." Kurt said with a huge smile.

Rogue smacked him on the arm and he rubbed his arm where she hit him.

Kitty kept teasing. "So what were you doing in that dream. It sounded like it was pretty hot. I mean, you were, like, moaning softly."

"Kitty! That's it!" Rogue said louder than she was meaning. Everyone looked at her. "Sorry. Go back to what ya'all were doin'. I just have to speak to Kitty...alone." Rogue added and they all looked away.

Kitty got up and Rogue got up and came towards her. Kitty ran from her. Kurt sat there laughing but he decided he'd let the two be alone. It was probably stuff anyway. He moved over to where Jean and Scott and her parents were seated.

Kitty ran from the kitchen and over to the stairs. Rogue ran towards Kitty hoping to catch her, but Kitty was already ahead. Rogue moved faster.

"Come back here Kitty!" Rogue yelled as they made it upstairs. 'If she's running to our room she's really not tryin' to get away' Rogue thought.

That's exactly where Kitty ran to. Soon Rogue caught up and entered the room. Kitty fell back onto her own bed.

"Oh, Remy. Mmm...yeah." Kitty mocked and giggled.

Rogue's eyes widened with shock. She quickly shut the door and locked it. "What? Did I say that in my sleep?" Rogue knew her dream was quite romantic but she didn't realize she was talking in her sleep. 'Damn' she thought.

"Yes. So I was right. Gambit is your dream-lover." Kitty teased.

"Stop it. Okay, if I tell you about my dreams promise ya won't tell a single soul. Okay sugar?" Rogue said with a serious expression upon her face.

"Sure. I know it has to be really juicy if you're moaning his real name." Kitty kept teasing.

"Kitty." Rogue said feeling a bit annoyed.

"Sorry. Okay, I'll stop." Kitty said finally getting a bit more serious.

X

Back downstairs all of the students have finished eating. Jean, Scott, Elaine and Jonathan were somewhere in the mansion. Jean and Scott decided it would be cool to give them a complete tour. The Professor and Hank went to the study to discuss a few things while Ororo remained in the kitchen. She decided to have a cup of coffee because she was a little tired. Logan was still in his spot but he had finished reading the paper. He was on his third cup of coffee. The younger students all went to the rec room to hang out for a bit. They all wanted to spend some time with Sara because they found her interesting. Jubilee and Rahne had said some really nice things about her before.

But right now in the kitchen Logan was checking Ororo out. She hadn't noticed his gaze. He was looking her up and down, settling his eyes in some areas more than others. She finally looked at him and saw him staring at her.

"What are you looking at, Logan?" she asked feeling somewhat embarrassed.

"Um, I ... uh ... I don't know. I was just staring." he answered hoping she'd buy his excuse.

"It appears you were staring at me." she said smiling oddly. She stood there for a second, 'I'm quite sure he was staring at me...but maybe I'm wrong' she thought.

"No...I was just thinking. I guess my eyes wander. Sorry if I caused any tension." he told her. 'You are so beautiful. If only I could tell you how I feel' he thought.

Ororo remained where she was for a moment. "No, no. Don't worry. Well, would you mind if I sit over there with you, until I finish my coffee?" she asked.

"Of course not." he said and he motioned for her to join him. 'Yes' was the only word running through his head at this time.

She walked over a took a seat across from him. They began to talk some. He never really has a lot to say. But she managed to get some talk out of him.

X

In the rec room the younger students were chatting. Tabitha and Amara were sitting beside each other, they were nearly inseparable now. Rahne and Jubilee sat to the right of them along with Roberto, Samual and Jamie. On the other side was Bobby, Evan, Ray and Sara.

"You're only going to be here 'til tomorrow, huh?" Samual asked.

"Unfortunately, yeah. I have to go home for school and stuff." Sara said. She really like it there and wanted to stay.

"Hey, maybe you can come and visit this summer for a few weeks or so." Amara said.

They all thought that sounded like a good idea.

"Yeah, I'll see if my parents and Professor Xavier will allow me. I don't see why they wouldn't." Sara said happily.

Ray placed his arm around Sara in a friendly manner. "That would be nice. Are you sure you're not a mutant?" he said and joked.

"Yeah." she answered.

The younger students kept on with their little conversation. It's amazing how much teenagers can talk. And it's great that everyone's getting along so well.

X

Jean and Scott had finally broke away from everyone. They wanted to spend a little time alone, something they haven't done for some time now. They went out for a drive so they could be alone. They didn't feel like being bothered, unless the Professor summoned them for an emergency. But that's completely different.

After driving and talking for a bit Scott pulled off to the side of the road and parked where there was a small clearing. They were on a nearly empty road near a wooded area. The two sat there and went on with their conversation.

"What if you do get excepted to a school the whole way over in California or something?" Scott asked and he reached for her hand, laced his fingers with hers and gently squeezed. This has been weighing on his mind a lot. 'I don't want to lose you'. he thought.

"I kind of hope not. I hope to get into N.Y.U. It's a good enough school for me. And don't worry honey, you won't ever lose me." she told him and squeezed his hand back just as gently.

"I hope, too. And...hey." he said then smiled.

"Sorry, can't help it." she said grinning.

"You're gonna get it...you wait." he joked.

"Oh really? Promise or threat?" she joked back.

"Yeah. It's a promise sweetheart." he said grinning.

Jean and Scott leaned closer and closer together until their lips met. For a few moments they shared a passionate kiss. Neither of them, honestly, wanted to pull away but Scott did move away. He was afraid of taking things too fast. They are alone and in his car. He didn't want to give the wrong idea. And that was, truly, the least thing on his mind anyway. He was sure she knew though.

"Why'd you pull back?" she asked.

"Um, I don't want to get in too deep. I don't want to rush or anything." he said.

"Get in too deep...rush...?" she questioned by repeating some of his words.

"You know, we are alone. Aren't you afraid?" he stated.

"I know. I am a little but I know you would never hurt me. We've been alone many times and all we were doing was kissing. It's not like we've never kissed before. And it can get pretty hot sometimes." she told him with a grin.

"True but..." he started saying.

He was cut off by Jean when she gently placed her lips over his. He paused but then returned the kiss. She was right. It was only a kiss. Something they've done time and time again and it's completely harmless.

X

Back at the institute Kurt was up in his room just straightening up some. The phone rang and he immediately went over to the one on his nightstand and answered. It was a habit He usually picked up the phone if he was in his room. Well during the day.

"Hello." he said.

"Hey Kurt." said the voice on the other end. "I know that voice anywhere."

"Amanda! How are you?" he exclaimed.

"I'm fine. How about you?" Amanda said.

"Oh, peachy. I'm glad you called me. I've been hoping I'd hear from you." he told her happily.

"Yeah, I got my cell phone so I can call you whenever I want now." she said just as happily.

"Great!" he said with noticeable joy.

"But, unfortunately, I can't talk for too long now. Only about ten minutes because I'm going out with my parents for dinner and I have to get ready and all." she said sadly.

"That's okay. I'm just glad to hear from you. So...have you been wanting to see someone else?" he asked.

"Not really but I don't know how we can be together. I want to be with you so bad. I just wish we could see each other. I've tried to explain everything to my parents. My mom's not too bad but my dad just doesn't want to listen. How about you...anyone?" she explained.

"I don't know. You know how I used to have a crush on Kitty, well I'm not sure what I feel now." he told her and he felt a knot building in his stomach and felt like he had a lump in his throat.

"Well, if you love her than be with her." Amanda said.

"But..." Kurt started.

"Look, I love you and you love me...although we both doubt we'll ever actually see each other again. Just because I don't have someone else that doesn't mean you can't move on with your life. We'll always love each other no matter what. And we'll always be really good friends, perhaps best friends because we're close. So Kurt, if you love Kitty than tell her. You have to." she explained and she felt the same as he did.

"I don't know Amanda. I love you so much but I love her." he told her.

"I know but you can't be with me, at least not now. I don't want you to waist your time, that you could spend elsewhere, worrying about me. This is painful but we can get through it." she stated.

"Yeah, you're right." he agreed.

"Well I have to go now. I'll call you as soon as possible, which could be later today. Hopefully. And remember what I said. I love you." she said.

"I love you, too." he said back.

With that they both said goodbye and after she hung up so did he. Now he was deep in thought. 'Should I really move on?' he thought. 'I'm so confused.'

Just then there was knock on the door. He walked over and opened his door. It was Kitty.

"Hi Kitty." Kurt said happily, trying to hide the fact that he felt like breaking down in tears.

"Hi. Like, can I come in." Kitty asked with a smile.

"Sure. Come on in." he said smiling back and he felt a bit happier. They always have a good time

together, even if they were staring at the wall.

"So Kurt, have you heard anything more from Amanda? Just curious." Kitty asked while coming in his room.

"Uh, yeah. That was her that called. She said we will most likely only be good friends since we may never see each other again. And even if we do it will only be to hang out." he answered and they both walked over and sat side by side on his bed. He left the door open partly.

"That sucks. Are you okay fuzzy?" she asked.

"I know. Yeah, I should be." he told her.

"Good because I don't want to see you being all sad. I love to see you smile." she said and she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

He blushed a little. "Don't worry, I'll be fine." he said and then there was nothing for a bit. They just stared at one another. Then all of a sudden he leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. Of course, she blushed also.

"What was that for?" she asked in puzzlement.

"Well, I was just returning your endearment." he said smiling.

They smiled at each other for a moment and all of a sudden they moved a bit closer. Then slowly closer until finally they're lips touched. They panicked and pulled back to see what expression the other was wearing. They both looked shocked and they were blushing again. Suddenly they leaned together again but this time they kissed and held it for a moment or so. They moved back and smiled at each other. This was strange but quite exciting for both of them.

"Sooo...what do you want to do?" Kitty asked.

"Um...I don't know. Do you want to go to the pool and take a swim? It's a really nice day." Kurt suggested.

"Sure, that sounds great. Just try not to shed in the pool too much." she said jokingly.

"Okay. Ha ha, I'll try not to." he joked back.

Kitty went to put on her swimming suite and get a towel and Kurt stayed in his room and shut the door. He put on his swimming trunks and waited for her. In a few minutes they reunited and headed for the pool.

X

Meanwhile, at Amanda's house she was in her room laying across her bed. She was on her back with her arms folded over her stomach. She had a lot on her mind. Sure she told Kurt to go ahead and move on because, quite frankly, it's probably what has to be done. But she does still love him very much. She doesn't think she'll be able to move on. She hasn't even found anyone she may even think about dating. She hadn't been looking really, nor does she want to. But she has known that Kurt had a huge crush on Kitty. Part of her is saying "no, don't be with her" but another part, the logical half, is saying "yes, go on with your life".

"Why does life have to be so hard?" Amanda said quietly.

She then turned on to her stomach, pressed her face into her pillow and began to cry. She was confused. Although, she knew that what she told Kurt only moments ago on the phone was right. He loves Kitty, too. And Amanda knows her and Kurt can't possibly be together after everything that's happened. She also knows that no matter what she'll always love him and he'll always love her. At least they can still be friends, therefore, they're not completely losing each other. She thought of that for a bit while she cried and she slowly began to calm down.

"We'll always be best friends, no matter what stands in our way. I love him, but I guess sometimes when you love someone you have to let them go. He loves me but he also loves Kitty. They can be together. And they do make a cute couple, she's very sweet. As long as he's happy then so am I." she said to herself. A slight smile came over her face but only for a moment. She felt happy but sad. 'Too many emotions'. she thought.

She then turned to her side and just laid on her bed still thinking about everything that's happened and trying to overcome her sorrow. He was her first boyfriend and it was hard to let go. She just wanted to hug him now, that's all. And that's what she really missed...being held felt so nice. Thoughts kept racing through her head as she laid there staring out her window.

X

By this time Jean and Scott had already made it back home. They were now walking up the walkway towards the mansion doors. As they were about he enter Rogue was coming out.

"Where are you going?" Jean asked.

"I was just going to go for a walk. It's a nice day." Rogue answered.

"Try not to be too long because supper'll probably be ready in a couple hours." Scott told her.

"Yeah, I know. I just wanna get out for a bit." Rogue stated.

"Do you have a watch on?" Scott questioned.

"Of course, I'm not stupid. How else would I be back in time?" Rogue said with a hint of sarcasm.

Scott grinned. "True."

Jean and Scott said goodbye and then headed into the building hand in hand and Rogue walked on.

Rogue was soon at the gates and she opened them and left. They closed behind her. She began her little walk. She was hoping she'd run into someone. But then again she kind of hoped she didn't. 'He's such a creep sometimes.' she thought. A smile formed on her lips. "But he's so charming." she said to herself.

After a bit she was away from the institute and she was at a small park. It was pretty nice. There were a few benches and the grass was just freshly cut so the air smelled sweet. And the park had a pond with a little fountain in the center. Rogue had been near this place before, but just passed it by, this time she decided she'd actually go and sit down. Oddly there wasn't really anyone else there at the moment. That didn't bother her though.

Rogue sat down. Since no one was there still she laid down on the bench so she could stretch out and look at the clouds. They were beautiful today, like huge, fluffy cotton balls. She gazed at the sky for minutes at a time. "This is so nice." she said quietly.

"Oui, I have to agree wit' you." came a very familiar voice.

'So much for relaxin' in peace.' Rogue thought. She sat up and looked in the direction of the voice. She knew who it was before even looking. It was obvious by the tone and accent of his voice. "What do ya want now swamp rat?" she asked trying to sound irritated. She was a bit but she was happier to see him than she wanted him to know.

"Well, Remy was jus' out on his bike. It's a wonderful day." Remy told her.

"Yes, it is. I didn't hear any motorbike." Rogue said to him.

"Remy parked it not far from here. T'ought it would be nice to walk for a bit. No harm in dat, non." he said and that devilish grin he always gives suddenly came over his face.

Rogue rolled her eyes. "Ya know, it's like ya always know where I am at any given moment." she said feeling a little creeped out by that thought.

"Maybe...but it's sure hard for Remy to stay away from such a belle like you." he said still grinning at her.

"Yeah...right, I bet ya say that to all the ladies." she said getting slightly annoyed by the smirk on his face after her comment.

"Sometimes cherie. Remy never mean it wit' de other filles though." he told her and he moved closer to the bench and sat beside her. He turned some so he was facing her.

"What makes me so different then Cajun? I obviously can't give ya what they can. Even if I could I'm not like that. I'm not sleasy and I never will be." she said to him feeling nervous.

Remy laughed softly. "I don't know. Of course you're not...maybe dat's what Remy like." he said seductively. He slid closer to her on the bench and his face was a few inches from hers. He stared into her eyes for a moment. He honestly did feel something for her that he's never felt.

Rogue gazed into his eyes but soon moved away. "What do ya think ya're doin' Gambit? Ya are not even my friend. Ya are one of Magneto's. Besides, all ya do is tick me off." she said and her gaze became a glare.

He smirked at her. "You like it chere, Remy know you do. You love de attention. You're ashamed to say the truth." he said.

"And what the hell's the truth swamp rat?" she said getting angry.

"Dat Remy turns you on an' you wanna screw him good." he said and that smirk still hasn't left his face.

What came next was definitely unexpected. Rogue slapped Remy right across the face as hard as she could. He just looked at her. She couldn't believe what she just did.

Remy glared at her and stood up. "Where the hell did dat come from? Remy jus' tryin' to be nice to you. And dat's not a usual quality I have. You're lucky I haven't gotten rid of you already." he told her in anger. But he also felt hurt, oddly. 'Why did I say dat to her. I would never hurt her.' he thought.

"What? Go to hell!" she yelled and she ran off. His words stung. She figured she had better be on her way home anyway.

"Wait Rogue! Chere, Remy sorry!" he ran after her.

Rogue just kept running but he finally caught up to her, accidently knocking her to the ground. Luckily they landed on grass. She was on her stomach and he turned her over on her back. He was on top of her, of course. They looked at each other for a second or two.

"Look, I've gotta get home for supper." Rogue said still upset.

"Can Remy give you a lift? It wouldn't be a problem." Remy asked hoping she'd say yes.

"I don't know. It's really not that far..." she started to say.

"It's not a problem." he actually felt bad for what he said.

"Fine, but nothin' funny." she told him in a stern tone. "By the way, I'm sorry, too...for hittin' ya like that. I shouldn't have hit so hard. Ya just make me sick sometimes." she said upon noticing the reddish mark on his cheek.

"Dat's okay mon amour. Remy a big boy. I've been hurt much worse." he said to her.

They got up and began to walk. He led them to where he had parked his bike. It wasn't far from the park they were just at so it didn't take long.

Once there he got on the bike and motioned for her to join him. He winked at her as he patted the seat behind him. She rolled her eyes and got on. She placed her arms around his waist.

"Remember, nothin' funny swamp rat. This time my hands aren't too far from you nuts." she told him.

"Don't worry, Remy won't try anyt'ing cherie." he assured her.

They two drove off on his bike. It wouldn't take long to arrive at the mansion at all. He was happy to have her behind him holding on so tightly and she was happy of the same thing. If only the one knew that the other felt the same.

X

It was now late evening at the mansion. Supper is already done with and most of the students are getting themselves ready to go to bed. They don't have school the next day but they don't want to chance a last minute Logan session without a fairly good amount of sleep. He's often made his rounds early in the morning knocking on on their doors telling them to get up and be suited in ten minutes or something.

Jean and Scott were, once again, in her room. They were ready for bed and were just laying down together. He was lying on his back and she was lying partly over him. She had her arm around his waist. His left hand was on her arm and his right arm was around her and he was stroking her hair slowly.

"I can't believe the weekend is almost over. My family will be leaving tomorrow afternoon." Jean said to him.

"Me neither. Yeah that sucks but they'll be back not too long from now." Scott said.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Our graduation isn't too far ahead. Remember hon." he reminded her.

"Oh, that's right. How did that slip my mind?" she said feeling really stupid.

"It's okay, you've had a lot on you mind. And I'm sure you still do." he said and he pulled her closer to him, almost on top of him.

She giggled. "I love you." she told him as she laid almost completely over him and looked at him. She knew he was gazing back.

"I know and I love you, too." he said with a smile and he placed both of his arms around her. One around her waist and the other was around her shoulders.

They gazed lovingly into one another's eyes for what seemed like ages. In a matter of seconds their lips met. The young couple kissed slowly and passionately for minutes at a time. These were the moments they always love. But the best part is just being together.

Fifteen minutes later they were just laying there again and talking. They were so happy to have each other and they cherish every moment spent together as if it's their last.

"Well Jean, I think we should try to get some sleep." he told her.

"Yeah, I guess." she said back to him.

They kissed goodnight and then turned off the light. They held each other close and within moments they were out.

Hours had passed by. It was 1:00am now and everyone was asleep by now. Jean and Scott were still asleep but Jean was moving around in her sleep rapidly. Soon Scott awoke startled. He looked at Jean and she was thrashing around. Her head was moving from side to side and she was moaning. He knew right away that she was having another nightmare. He turned on the light and tried to wake her but it didn't work.

"Get away from me! ...Leave me alone! ...No!" she screamed in her sleep.

He automatically knew what the dream was without asking. It was obvious and he figured it anyway. He tried to wake her again by gently shaking her. But again nothing happened.

"Uh...stop! ...You're hurting me!" she screamed again.

All of a sudden the room was shaking. A few objects were thrown into the air and across the room. Lately, every time Jean has a bad nightmare her powers go out of whack until she wakes up.

"Oh man." Scott said to himself.

Xavier sensed something odd happening and he woke up. He made his way over to Jean's room. "Scott, what's happening?" he asked.

"Jean's having another nightmare! Her powers are going crazy!" Scott told him.

"I'm coming in!" the Professor said and slowly entered Jean's room. Once inside he shut the door so nothing could be thrown out the door, unless the door ends up being broken. He made his way, carefully, over to the bed. "I'm going to try to enter her mind."

"I don't think that's a good idea. Can't you just try to wake her up?" Scott asked, although he had a feeling Professor X was right. He's already tried to wake her up and her eyes don't even flutter.

"It won't work. This dream seems to be taking her over. And it's triggering another power surge. I must enter her mind and try my hardest to reach her. Hopefully she and I can communicate and she'll be able to awaken." the Professor explained.

Scott shook his head in agreement. Xavier slowly placed his hands over Jean's head and closed his eyes. He was having some difficulty entering but he finally got in.

'Jean, can you hear me?' the Professor asked. 'Please, if you can answer me.'

'Yes...help me!' Jean cried in her mind.

'That's what I'm trying to do. Your nightmare has caused your powers to act up. I fear you may go into another power surge.' he explained.

'How can I stop this? I'm scared.' she asked.

'I'm afraid you can't on your own. Allow me to help.' he said.

She agreed for him to help her. She knew this was harder than before but with his help she knew it would be okay. He carefully held back her powers back. He telepathically asked Scott if everything was getting back to normal.

'Yes Professor. Her powers have stopped going haywire. Is she okay?' he said.

'I think. Jean, are you alright?' the Professor said. There was nothing for a moment. 'Jean...'

'I'm fine.' she finally answered.

'I'm going to exit your mind and you should wake up when I do.' Xavier explained to her.

Then he did just that, he moved away and waited. Within seconds Jean's eyes fluttered open. She appeared to be startled. "Am I okay?" she asked.

"Yes, you are." said the Professor and he placed his hand over hers, which was at her side.

Scott grabbed her other hand and held it in his own. "I was so scared."

Jean looked over to him. "So was I. I couldn't control what was happening in my head. That nightmare was horrible, the others were also, but this one...I don't know." she explained and tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Jean, that's because somehow your powers were triggered by the dream. Apparently in your subconscious mind you began to use them to try to defend yourself and they went out of control." the Professor explained as well as he could. That was the only explanation he had, too.

"Will I be okay Professor?" she asked and a worried expression came over her face.

"I'm not one hundred percent sure but I think you'll be fine for at least the remainder of the night. If either of you need me you know where I am. Although, I'll probably end up coming to you like this time. I sensed something out of the ordinary and I'm glad I did. Only God knows what may have happened if I hadn't. But try to get some sleep." Xavier tod her, hoping she'd be okay and that she'd feel more eased.

Jean shook her head yes. The Professor leaned over and kissed her on the forehead, fatherly. He said goodnight to them both, hoping it would truly be a goodnight, and he exited the room.

Scott pulled Jean into his arms tightly and held her close. He kissed her. She kissed him back.

"Don't ever leave me." she begged.

"Never." he promised as he had many times before.

They laid back down wrapped tightly in each other's arms in hope of a better night.

In the hallway there were a few spectators. Mainly of the female dorm areas. Ororo, Rogue and Kitty were all standing outside Jean's door with worried expressions.

"What happened Charles? Is Jean okay?" Ororo asked and the other two looked at him with the same questions.

"Well Jean had another one of those nightmares and her powers acted up. I think the dream triggered them to do so. I'm not positive but I think she'll be okay, at least for the night." the Professor explained as thoroughly as he could possibly do.

"I sure hope so." said Ororo. "I also hope she'll be alright in the long run. She's bearing so much. And things like this usually scar someone for life. Believe me. My past still haunts me." she added and she wore a painful look.

"Yes but don't worry Ororo. I won't let anything happen to her. And if you need to talk about anything yourself I'll be here." he assured her.

"I know. I just worry too much I guess. Well since she'll be fine for now I think I'll try to get some sleep. You two should, too." Ororo said.

"Okay." Kitty said.

"Goodnight." Rogue told them.

The two friends went back to their room. They hope that everything will truly be okay now. Ororo was just about to head back to her room but Xavier stopped her.

"Ororo, may I have a few more words with you?" he asked quiet enough for only her to hear him. He was worried when she said that her past still haunted her. He knew it was something that she'd never put completely aside, that was obvious. But he just wanted to make sure that she was okay herself.

"Sure. What about?" she said softly in puzzlement, although she had a feeling what it was about.

"Well, are you still having nightmares about your past?" he quietly questioned her and he folded his hands together in his usual manner, he sensed she was.

"Um, sometimes. But you already know everything. There's nothing more I could possibly explain about that." she told him in a whispered tone.

"Yes, but if it's still causing you nightmares you need to try to tell me about them. Talking helps more than you may realize." he told her the same way.

"I think I'll be fine though. But thanks." she said softly.

"Alright then. Just remember, if you need me I'll be here." he whispered back.

Ororo shook her head. They said goodnight to each other and headed to their own rooms. She knew she'd probably end up speaking with him again. But at this moment her dreams weren't really that bad. He knew more than he'd prefer but he didn't want to force her to do something she didn't want to do. She'll speak to him on her own will. The same went for Jean or anyone else in the mansion.

X

It's now Sunday morning. Everyone was awake fairly early. Logan gave a danger session but he was kind enough to allow the students to sleep in a couple hours longer. He woke them around 9:00am and told them to suit up and get some breakfast. Afterwards they all went to the danger room and had a two hour session. He used all of the students this time. The Professor stayed up in the control room along with Jean's parents and sister. He thought it wouldn't be any harm in them seeing the training session. They found it amazing because of how real everything appeared to be.

After the Logan session was over everyone went off to do whatever their hearts desired. Sara got the few things she brought for the weekend together. Elaine and Jonathan had done the same. They had to soon be on their way home. Sara really didn't want to leave yet but she knew she had to. She had said her goodbyes to all the students. She became quite close with a few of them over the weekend so it was hard to leave. Now she's with her parents in Xavier's study, along with Jean and Scott.

"I can't believe this weekend's over. I'm going to miss you all so much." Jean said as she hugged and kissed her family.

"I know honey. But it won't be much longer and you'll see us again." Elaine told her daughter as she pulled her into a close, tight embrace.

"Yeah, but it seems so far away." Jean said.

"Don't worry, it'll be here long before you realize it sweetheart." Jonathan said and he, too, pulled his daughter into an embrace.

Jean smiled softly. She knew she'd see them. And she could always call and talk like she has been for the past years. But she still always missed them.

Sara looked at Jean. "I'm going to miss you sis."

"Oh, I'm going to miss you, too. But you know what, you may be able to visit for a few weeks or so in the summer." Jean told her little sister.

Sara smile widely. "Yeah. That is true."

"That's if mom, dad and the Professor don't mind." Jean said.

"Well, I have no problem with that." Professor X said with a smile.

Jean's parents looked from him to each other and shook their heads in agreement. "Neither do we. She'll be safe, right?" Elaine said.

"Of course she will. But if anything would come up we could have her home in no time." the Professor assured her.

"Okay, then that can be arranged. But now we must be on our way." Elaine said smiling.

Jonathan noticed how Scott had remained silent during the conversation and walked over to him. "It was nice seeing you again son." he said and he reached out for Scott's hand.

Scott smiled and held out his hand and shook Jonathan's . "Yes, it was nice seeing you, too."

Elaine made her way over and gave Scott a hug. "Take care of her." she said smiling.

"Don't I always?" Scott told her with a smile as he returned the hug.

Last but not least, Sara came over and gave Scott a hug. "I guess you're going to be my big brother."

Scott hugged her back. "Yep."

Now Jean's family headed off so they couldn't catch their flight. Ororo offered to drive them to the airport as they were heading out the door so they didn't have to take a bus. They took the offer. So they were on their way.

Jean and Scott went to the rec room. Fortunately, since they just wanted to sit back and relax, no one else was in there. They thought that maybe Logan would have been but perhaps he stayed in the danger room for extra self-training. He's prone to do that from time to time.

"So Jean, what do you want to do?" Scott asked. He wanted to cheer her up.

"I don't know. Maybe just sit her and hang out." Jean said.

"That's all. So what if I do this..." he said then reached over and began to tickle her sides.

She giggled loudly. "Stop it! That tickles! Scott! Please!" she yelled through her laughs.

He laughed. "I made you smile." he said.

"Yes, you did. Could you stop? My sides are starting to hurt from laughing." she told him.

"Good, it worked then." he said with a huge grin. Then he stood up and grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet.

"What?" she asked.

"Let's go out for some ice-cream." he said and he gave her a quick kiss on the lips.

"Okay. That sounds great. Who's car are we taking...mine or yours?" she said happily.

He thought for a second. "Mine, it's my treat." he told her.

She smiled and him kissed him gently. The left the rec room hand in hand. Just before they were about to leave they saw the Professor, which was good so they could tell him where they were going.

"I'm taking Jean out for ice-cream. We'll be back in a little while." Scott told him.

"That's fine. Have fun." Professor X said and he smiled at them.

Jean and Scott then left the mansion and headed to his car. Once there they got in and Scott started up the engine. Soon they were on their way.

X: Well that was the last actual chapter to this fic. I am going to be doing an epilogue though.

I'm also making a sequel to this. I have some ideas but not a lot yet. Thanks to everyone who reads and reviews my work. I really appreciate it. A special thanks to Agent-G for all the help.

I love ya'all. XOXO.


	31. Epilogue: Graduation & Futuristic Fears

Weeks have passed by and it's finally Jean and Scott's graduation day. Jean's parents and sister had met everyone from the institute at the ceremony at the school. They all watched as the graduates were called and they walked up to receive their diplomas. Everyone earned and deserved what they got but perhaps Jean and Scott deserved it even more. Once everything about their mutant abilities was left out it was extremely difficult to attend school every day. And not to mention how hard it had been on Jean after her attack. They were both over-joyed that they had finally made it and don't have to return to that school ever again.

It is now after Jean and Scott's graduation and everyone from the institute, plus Jean's family, have went to the mansion for a party that Professor X had set up for a few days now. Jean and Scott could very well use some fun, along with the others. It's been hard on everyone.

At this point everyone's hanging around talking, eating and drinking non-alcoholic beverages. Jean and Scott sat close to her parents. Rogue, Kitty and Kurt all sat together. The younger students, including Sara, sat together, some on the furniture and some on the floor. And the Professor was in his wheelchair sitting in front of a wall, along with Ororo, Logan and Hank who were standing. They were keeping an eye on things. With all of the younger students being together anything could happen. They usually end up getting into some sort of mischief. They didn't have to worry too much about the older ones, although it's hard to tell with Kitty and Kurt. He likes to pick on her and then the two are running around all over the place. Jean and Scott were definitely not going to be a problem. They sat together holding hands with their fingers entwined talking to Elaine and Jonathan.

"So which school do you plan to attend dear, and don't think you'll disappoint with your discission. We are both very proud of you no matter what you choose. And we are very happy with the person you've become...a beautiful, intelligent young woman." Jonathan asked. Jean has informed them that she's been accepted to many schools but she hasn't said which one yet.

Jean smiled and her eyes became watery. "Well, it was a really hard discission but I have finally come to a conclusion. I have chosen one that is very close to everyone I love, including you and mom, of course. I'll be able to stay at the institute, so that dilemma has been resolved. I'm going to attend N.Y.U. I know it's not as big as Harvard or those other big universities but it's what best fits me. I'm still going into the field I want so that's all that matters. Plus I'll get a wonderful education." she explained to her parents. She had already broke the news to Scott and the others at the institute but she wanted to wait until she saw her parents again to tell them. She preferred to tell them in person rather than on the phone.

"Oh honey, that's great. And like your father said, we are very proud of you all around. N.Y.U. is still a great school. We are happy you're not going to move far away from everyone you love. At least we can see you still. And we won't have to fly all over the United States." Elaine told her daughter with a smile.

Jean smiled back. "I am so glad. I love you both so much."

Scott looked at Jean and she finally looked at him. He was smiling at her. Of course, he was very happy that she was able to stay. They worried that she'd have to move for so long now. But she definitely didn't want to leave him, the X-Men (her family) and her biological family. That would have been a huge burden.

X

The day was now coming to an end and so was the excitement. It was already evening, 8:00, and everyone had cleaned up from the party. Jean's parents and sister were spending the night. They didn't want to try to catch a flight now so they just decided to stay. And of course Jean loves that idea. Her parents arranged a flight for the following afternoon so that they could get up and have breakfast with Jean and her second family. Sara really didn't want to leave again. But unfortunately, she'd have to. Although, she will be able to stay for a few weeks or so during the summer.

Right now almost everybody was upstairs getting themselves ready for the night. The only ones who remained downstairs were Jean, Scott, Elaine, Jonathan, Charles, Ororo, Logan and Hank. They all decided to stay and have a conversation before getting ready for bed. They seated themselves in the rec room where they felt quite comfortable. Of course, the Professor was seated in his wheelchair.

"I'm glad you've enjoyed yourselves today." Xavier said to everyone.

Jean and Scott both smiled and shook their heads to show that they had a wonderful time. But they didn't speak otherwise, well they were exhausted from the graduation and everything else.

"Yes, I had a great time Charles. You have a beautiful institute and everyone here is so kind." Elaine said with a smile. Jonathan shook his head in agreement with his wife.

"Well thank you. If only everyone would think that of this school." the Professor told them.

"They're just ignorant and unwilling to learn the truth about mutants. Just like anyone else in the world, mutants have good and bad. You have that with any group of people. It's a shame that people will dislike an entire existence just because one individual from that group that is cruel." Jonathan stated.

"Perhaps someday they'll all understand that we're not all about destruction of the human race. Quite frankly, we are part of that race. We're just much further evolved." Hank said thoughtfully.

"Yes, and for the sake of the entire universe I hope that day will soon arrive." Ororo voiced her own opinion. "I mean, we already have problems like everyone else. We don't need extra."

Jean and Scott, once again, just shook their heads to agree. They were completely worn out. They looked away from the others and to each other. Jean then stood up.

"Well, sorry to leave you all but I am having trouble staying awake. I don't know about you Scott, but I'm calling it a night." she told everyone then looked at Scott.

"Yeah, I am bushed, too. I guess we'll see you all tomorrow morning. Goodnight everyone." Scott said smiling with a yawn.

"Yeah, the same." Jean said and she hugged and kissed her parents.

The others said goodnight to Jean and Scott as they headed out of the rec room to go upstairs. They could all tell how tired the two were. After the two left Jean's parents and the others kept on with the conversation. Logan finally breaks in with his opinion.

"I really don't like to say it, but I doubt that day'll ever come. It's gettin' worse." he said in his gruff tone.

Ororo loved how he spoke. He acted all tough but she knew that deep down he was really sweet and gentle. "True Logan, but it often gets worse before it gets better." Ororo said trying to believe in the best.

They all kept on with their talking for a little longer. But soon they all decided they, too, should head up and get ready for bed. It was getting late and they all could use a good night's sleep. So everybody went upstairs and said goodnight. Then they went their separate ways.

X

In Jean's room she and Scott had already gotten ready. They were now lying down on her bed together, like they always do. He was on his back with his right arm around her. She laid snuggled up against his side with her head just below his neck with her right arm on his chest. He placed his left hand on her hand and stroked it softly. Then he kissed her on the top of the head.

"I love you so much." he told her. He thought she had fallen asleep but she hasn't yet.

"I know honey. I love you, too. Of course, you know though." she said and she planted a kiss on his jawline.

Scott looked down at her and she tilted her head and looked up. They smiled at each other for a couple of seconds then their lips met. They kissed for a bit then said goodnight. Soon they cuddled as close as they could and in moments they fell in a deep sleep. Jean should sleep fairly well because she has been doing somewhat better. Hopefully that lasts.

A few hours later Jean woke up. But not because of a nightmare or anything bad like that. She just woke up. She remained laying in Scott's arms and she drifted into deep thought. Many things ran through her mind now keeping her from falling back to sleep, despite how tired she still was.

'What's going to happen next? I know I won't be leaving anyone when I start college so that's great. But what if my powers act up again? What if I end up hurting someone? Just when I thought everything was beginning to get better all of this pops into my head.' she thought and she glanced up at Scott who was still sleeping. 'I wonder what he's dreaming about?'

For a few minutes or so Jean lay there thinking over all kinds of things then all of a sudden she felt a kiss on her head. She looked up to see Scott wide awake and looking down at her. It seems that he knows exactly what's running back and forth in her mind.

"Hey...I just woke up a bit ago and couldn't fall back to sleep. But don't worry hon, I didn't have a bad dream. I guess I just have a lot on my mind." Jean told him while looking up.

"I've been thinking about things also. I think I know what's bothering you." Scott said and they both sat up but remained in one another's arms.

"You probably do. So what do you think it is?" she asked, wondering if he really knew. They know each other so well.

"You're worried about what the future holds. You're scared that something may go wrong with your powers again or just you in general. Am I right?" he said. That's the vibe he got from her. He knew she was happy about mostly everything at this point but he also felt something was bothering her. And of course, he knows that what he just said has got to be it because all he mentioned frightens him, too.

"Yes. I'm quite terrified that something bad will eventually happen. I'm not sure when or how but I've got this feeling that won't go away. It's been there for a while but I thought it had something to do with me worrying about having to leave you and everyone else. But no, it's not that now." she said and tears formed in her eyes.

"Oh Jean, I'm terrified, too. But no matter what takes place in the near, or far, future I'll always be right by your side. I'll always be here to hold you and comfort you. I don't care how bad it gets either. I love you and nothing will ever change that." he told her and he pulled her into a strong, tight embrace.

"I know." was all she said. She then wrapped her arms tightly around his waist, buried her face in his chest and began to cry.

He gently stroked her hair, as he had done many times and will probably do many more times. He laid his head on the top of hers and kept trying to soothe her pain. He wishes he could take it all away. Her pain, her fear and all that's bad. But, sadly, he can't. All he can do is comfort her. "Nothing is going to come between us." he whispered softly and tears streamed down his face, too. It hurt him to see her so scared and sorrowful.

To be continued..

X: Well that was the epilogue. This is now the end of this part of my fic. But, fortunately, I am eventually making a sequel. I'm glad you all enjoyed this. Once again, a special "thank you" goes out to Agent-G for all of the help. X


	32. Just a Note for Any Readers

I have decided against making a sequel to this story. I've had a hard time with the one I am currently working on. I don't have a lot of time to write, that's why it's been taking so long. Plus I don't have my own computer; I have to share one. I am trying to get my current story done, even if I have to rush it some. I haven't gotten any reviews for my last chapter, however I'm going to continue with it because I don't want to leave it hanging. But after that one I'm still not going to be finished writing. I plan on making an all new fic in a different catagory of X-Men. But I thought I'd let anyone know who decides to read this that I'm not making a sequel as I had planned. It's been too long since I finished this particular story to make one. I'll keep it up, but that's it. Thank you:)

_X-Storm_


End file.
